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: 

























THE COUNTY COURT HOUSE 

































A 

BRIEF HISTORY 

of 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 
PENNSYLVANIA 

WITH AN ACCOMPANYING MAP 


PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERVISION 

of 

THE SCHOOL DIRECTORS’ ASSOCIATION 

for 

THE USE OF SCHOOLS 

V p 

t i h 

H. W. KRIEBEL 

■> 

t i 

, % ) 

g > 

» ) > 

1 > ’ 

NORRISTOWN 

THE SCHOOL DIRECTORS’ ASSOCIATION 

1923 


FT^7 

.M7 K<| 


Copyright, 1923, by 
H. W. Kriebel 


Printed by 

Norristown Herald Printing 
and Publishing Company 
Norristown, Pa. 

r 



v 





Sf P 28 1923 

©C1A7 5916 6 


PREFACE 


The object of this publication, prepared by request 
under the supervision of The School Directors’ Asso¬ 
ciation, is to provide for the use of the public schools of 
Montgomery County a text-book on local history. The 
book assumes on the part of teacher and pupil a general 
knowledge, acquired or to be acquired, of the history of 
the Indians, of state and nation, besides local, state, and 
national laws and government; in consequence some rele¬ 
vant topics are either merely referred to or entirely 
omitted. A successful use of the book in the classroom 
will necessitate work supplementary to what is provided 
by the text. 

Misstatements of fact have probably crept into the 
text, either through insufficient original research or 
through acceptance of unverified data gleaned from 
many sources; for these the kind indulgence of teacher 
and pupil will be appreciated. Since accepted authorities 
differ, variations in punctuation, capitalization and 
orthography appear, the author not deeming himself 
called upon to decide where doctors disagree. 

The author finds pleasure in acknowledging the ap¬ 
preciated encouragement and courteous assistance given 
by many individuals and officials—in particular by the 
school authorities of the county, the school superin- 


tendent and his assistants, the school directors and the 
teachers. Without such hearty co-operation the work 
would not have been undertaken and could not have been 
completed. Specific acknowledgment is impossible under 
the limiting conditions of the book itself. For a like 
reason a citation of authorities is precluded. 

The book is sent forth on its mission in the hope 
that it may help to awaken in the coming generation a 
consciousness of its precious heritage in the history of 
Montgomery County. 

Pennsburg, Pa., July 6, 1923. 


THE AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I—Introduction . 11 

II—How the County Was Acquired . 18 

III — Settling the County . 29 

IV — Early Life and Activities . 49 

V—Formation and Development of the County. 73 

VI—Changed Home Life. 92 

VII — The World at Large . 106 

VIII—Statistics . 123 

IX —Biography . 150 

X —History Hikes .. 167 

XI—Notes on Names. 196 

XII — The Map of Montgomery County . 202 

















ILLUSTRATIONS 


The County Court House . Frontispiece 

Farm Implements . 13 

Farm Implements . 15 

Seal of William Penn .■>.. 17 

William Penn . 18 

Letter of Introduction . 20 

Indian Deed . 22 

Indian Deed . 23 

Modern High School Buildings . 28 

Benjamin Lay .:. 33 

The Old Schoolhouse, Valley Forge . 39 

A Pioneer’s Hut. 49 

Early Log Houses . 51 

Manuscript Volumes . 53 

Household Utensils . 50 

Conestoga Wagon. 59 

American Stage Wagon . 60 

Cradle, Rocker, Etc. 64 

Tools of Flax Industry . 66 

Norriton Presbyterian Church . 69 

Pulpit and Pew, Lutheran Church, Trappe. 70 

Old Ironsides . 72 

Perkiomen Bridge, Collegeville . 75 

The Town of Norris. 76 

First Passenger Train in America . 79 

Locomotive Built 1914 . 80 

One Room Schoolhouses . 84 

Spinning with Spindle and Spinningwheel. 87 

School Superintendents . 89 

Continental Money . 91 

Four Types of Rural Bridges. 96 

Rural Schoolroom Scene . 98 

Veteran Teachers, 1922 . 99 

View of Pottstown, 1835 . 104 

Consolidated School Buildings . 105 

National Memorial Arch, Valley Forge... 110 

Muhlenberg Family . H2 









































Home of Frederick Antes. 116 

Typical School Buildings. 116 

Headquarters of General Wayne. 119 

Monument, General Nash . 121 

Log Hut. 122 

Hospital Hut, Valley Forge . 145 

John J. Audubon . 150 

Alexander Johnston Cassatt . 152 

Abraham H. Cassel . 153 

Winfield Scott Hancock. 155 

John Frederick Hartranft . 156 

Joseph Leidy . 158 

Samuel Whittaker Pennypacker. 161 

David Porter . 162 

David Rittenhouse . 163 

Francis Rawn Shunk . 165 

View of Valley Forge . 170 

Washington’s Headquarters, Valley Forge . 171 

Washington’s Headquarters, Inside View. 171 

The Gulph Mills. 172 

Jeffersonville Hotel . 174 

Lutheran Church, Trappe . 175 

Crooked Hill Tavern, About 1777. 176 

Norriton Home of David Rittenhouse. 179 

Home of Samuel Bertolet . 180 

Home of the Late S. W. Pennypacker. 181 

New Goshenhoppen Church . 184 

P’riends’ Meetinghouse, Plymouth. 186 

Hovenden Studio . 187 

Hope Lodge, Whitemarsh, Outside View. 188 

Hope Lodge, Whitemarsh, Inside View. 189 

Friends’ Meetinghouse, Horsham. 190 

Sir William Keith . 192 

Graeme Park. 19 3 

Library Building, Hatboro . 194 

Straw and Hickory Baskets . 195 






































A BRIEF HISTORY 

OF 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

PENNSYLVANIA. 


CHAPTER I 


INTRODUCTION 


The 
Transformed 
Life 


There are three periods in the life of insects; 
the larva or masked period, the pupa or 
bandaged-baby period, the adult or full- 
grown period. The pest on wings that at 
night pipes a maligned melody into its victim’s ear be¬ 
fore drawing its fill of blood from his bald head was once 
a swimmer in stagnant water that threw its outgrown 
skin aside to become a floating ball which it in turn burst 
and kicked off to fly away a mischievous, musical mos¬ 
quito. To understand the butterfly, one must know also 
the green, golden-spotted caterpillar which, after becom¬ 
ing a seemingly lifeless, headless and limbless body, was 
transformed into the beautiful, winged creature flitting 
from flower to flower on warm, summer days. In like 
manner, to understand a nation, a state, or a county, one 
must know its beginnings and the changes it has under¬ 
gone. Confucius said: “From the past learn the future.” 
Patrick Henry said: “I know of no way of judging of the 
future but by the past.” To appreciate Montgomery 
county and judge of its future one must know its past. 
Hence this book. 



12 


INTRODUCTION 


Three 

Centuries 

Ago 


Three centuries ago (A. D. 1623) there was 
no Montgomery county, no Keystone state, no 
United States of America. Europe was turn¬ 
ing its back to the past in the East to face a 
New World dawning in the West. The men who were to 
explore, found, settle, and develop Pennsylvania were 
unborn. A few unlettered Indians were sustaining a 
precarious existence by hunting and fishing in the 
primeval forests and unpolluted streams of Montgomery 
county, which probably had not been seen by European 
eyes. What William Penn did see three score years 
later in the land that was to become Montgomery county 
he described in these words: 


“The land is generally good, well water’d and 
not so thick of wood as imagin’d; there are also 
many open places that have been old Indian fields. 
The trees that grow here are the mulberry, white 
and red, walnut, black, gray, and hickory, poplar, 
cedar, Cyprus, chestnut, ash, sassafras, gum, pine, 
spruce, oake, black, white, red, Spanish chestnut 
and swamp, which has a leaf like a willow and is 
most lasting. The food the woods yield is your 
elks, deer, raccoons, beaver, rabbits, turkeys, 
pheasants, heath-birds, pigeons, and partredges, 
unnumerably; we need no setting dogs to ketch; 
they run by droves into the houses in cold 
weather. Our rivers have also plenty of excel¬ 
lent fish and water fowl, as sturgeon, rock, shad, 
herring, catfish, or flatheads, sheepheads, roach, 
and perch and trout in inland streams; of fowls, 
the swan, white, gray and black goose, and brands, 
the best duck and teal I ever ate, and the snipe 
and the curlue with the snowbird are also excel¬ 
lent.” 


TWO CENTURIES AGO 


13 


Two 

Centuries 

Ago 


Two centuries ago (A. D. 1723) there was no 
Montgomery county, no Keystone state, no 
United States. Europe had come, seen, and 
appropriated the Western continent. Wil¬ 


liam Penn had lived, created a colony, planted therein an 
idea and gone to his eternal home. Penn’s infant colony 
was composed of three vaguely defined counties; of 


Philadelphia, the most influential of these, Montgomery, 


FARM IMPLEMENTS, MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

though not then formed or even dreamed of, was an im¬ 
portant part. Much of the future county, of all of which 
William Penn had become owner by charter grant of his 
king and by purchase from the Indians, had already 
passed into the hands of resident and non-resident pur¬ 
chasers. In nearly every one of the original townships, 
houses had been built, churches erected, schools opened, 
roads laid out, virgin forests transformed into fruitful 
fields and verdant meadows, and the ceaseless struggle 
for food, raiment, comfort, and provision against old age 













14 


INTRODUCTION 


and the rainy day undertaken. Cares were many, call¬ 
ings few, comforts rare, cash scant. 


One century ago (A. D. 1823) Montgomery 
county celebrated its thirty-ninth birthday. 
The Indians, excepting the few allowed to re¬ 
main in Warren county, had disappeared 


One 

Century 

Ago 


from the state, having left the county many years pre¬ 
viously. “We, the people,” of whom Montgomery 
county was not an insignificant part, had declared and 
successfully maintained our political independence from 
the Old World, and our inalienable right on both land 
and sea to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
Improved roads crisscrossed the county; gristmills, 
sawmills, tanneries, stately churches, capacious barns, 
little red schoolhouses had become familiar sights. Com¬ 
forts and the rewards of honest labor sweetened toil; 
the foundations of fortunes were being laid; but yet the 
present-day conveniences, appliances, and luxuries in 
the home, on the farm, in the shop and behind the counter 
as well as the means of travel, and the mediums for con¬ 
veying knowledge that seem so indispensable today, were 
then unknown. In the ordinary farmer’s home, there was 
no carpet on the floor, no papering on the wall, no hard 
or soft coal in the cellar, no sewing machine in the living 
room but instead a number of spinning wheels, no ready¬ 
made clothing nor shoe, no pipeless heating system but 
instead the open fireplace with crane and simmering pot, 
no electric, gas or kerosene light, no telegraph or tele¬ 
phone, no phonograph or photograph, no illustrated Sun¬ 
day paper with colored funny pages. On the farm there 
were no mowing machines, no self-binders, no hayrakes, 
no haytedders, no graindrills, no riding plows or harrows, 
no thrashing machines, no gasoline engines, no tractors, 
no silos, no elliptical springs for even the Sunday go-to- 


ONE CENTURY AGO 


15 


meeting carriage, no Portland cement. As means of 
travel there were no bicycles, no automobiles, no rail¬ 
roads, no street car lines in cities, no aeroplanes, no trans- 
Atlantic steamship lines, no submarines. As mediums of 
education, there were no free schools, no free text-books, 
no steel pens, no consolidated schools, no daily morning 
and evening newspapers, lying beside the breakfast or 
supper plate, telling what has happened the whole world 



FARM IMPLEMENTS, MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 


over the past twenty-four hours, and what the evening 
wireless radio programs a thousand miles away will pro¬ 
vide. 


Today 


Today men fly like birds, swim like fish, bur¬ 
row like moles. Their pathways of iron pass 
across mighty rivers, through massive moun¬ 
tains, and along miry river beds. They 
change night into day, winter into summer, culm and 
cinder into gold and make air, water, and electricity, old 
as creation, in ten thousand ways serve as hewers of wood 
and drawers of water for society. They embalm music 
and speech to be resurrected a hundred years hence none 



16 


INTRODUCTION 


the worse for a century’s sleep. Outstripping the flight 
of time they read at the six o’clock breakfast table the 
metropolitan daily, which relates things that happened 
half way around the globe at twelve o’clock of the same 

day. 

Today Montgomery county counts school children by 
the ten thousand, citizens by the hundred thousand, ex¬ 
penses by the million, valuation by the hundred million. 
The county has been an asylum for the oppressed, a gate¬ 
way to the boundless West, a bread house for the hungry, 
a Samaritan for the suffering, a melting pot of divers 
nationalities. The county is and always has been a loyal 
constituent part of “We, the people of the United States,” 
a mighty republic and yet only a growing youth sitting 
in the midst of the old nations of the world teaching them 
and asking questions. 

There has been a change for which there is also a 
reason. Montgomery’s sons and daughters speaking for 
themselves and their forbears can proudly and truthfully 
say, “We have been Trojans,” but they can not say this 
effectively unless they know the history of Montgomery, 
which like sister counties came out of great tribulation. 


Why 

Study 

History 


Referring to the little log schoolhouse to 
which as a child he tramped fifty years be¬ 
fore, Daniel Webster in 1840 said in a public 
speech: “I make it an annual visit. I carry 
my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by 
the generations which have gone before.” Philip Schaff 
said: “History is, and must ever continue to be, next to 
God’s word, the richest fountain of wisdom, and the 
surest guide to all practical activity. To reject her voice 
is to rob ourselves of our own right to exist, or, at least, 
to condemn our own life; since we owe to her, in fact, 
whether we choose to do so or not, all that we are and all 


WHY STUDY HISTORY 


17 


that we can become.” Knowledge of one’s native county, 
its origin and growth, its early struggles and hardships, 
its familiar scenes and places, the achievements of human 
skill, of the contributions made to welfare and progress, 
of the part played in local, state, and national affairs, 
must make more influential and patriotic citizens, more 
useful members of society, more noble men and women 
and prepare them the better to appreciate the history of 
other men, times and places. 


Aim 

of 

Book 


The aim of this book is to set forth in con¬ 
venient and attractive form for use in the 
school room and by the home fireside some 
data illustrating the rise and progress of 
Montgomery county. 

It is hoped the book may become a means of develop¬ 
ing a more intimate and more appreciative knowledge of 
the history of Montgomery county; a warmer, keener, 
livelier civic love and pride of home, county, state and na¬ 
tion ; a more hearty and widespread compliance with the 
old but not antiquated command: “Honor thy father and 
mother [which implies the forbears long since at rest], 
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee.” 



SEAL OF WILLIAM PENN 





















CHAPTER II 

HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 


William 
Penn 
the Man 


William Penn (1644-1718), the self-sacrific¬ 
ing, untiring, and unyielding Quaker, the 
son of a distinguished naval commander, Sir 
William Penn, and his wife, a Dutch lady, 
Margaret Jasper was educated at Lincoln’s Inn and at 
Oxford University whence he was expelled with other 
students on account of holding meetings for religious 



WILLIAM PENN 

From Painting in Independence Hall, Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa. 

worship. This youthful choice, to obey God and conscience 
rather than man and custom and to follow duty as he saw 
it no matter where it led, moulded his whole future life, 
influenced the history of Pennsylvania, and helped to 




WILLIAM PENN, THE MAN 


19 


make the United States the world’s grandest, richest, and 
most influential republic. He was turned out of doors at the 
age of eighteen, soon to be recalled and, in hope of ruin¬ 
ing his religion, sent to gay and profligate Paris and con¬ 
tinental Europe. On his return two years later he was 
placed in charge of his father’s affairs in Ireland where 
his religion caused his imprisonment. He was expelled 
from home a second time at the age of twenty-four about 
which time he became a minister in the Society of 
Friends. 

Three times he was imprisoned on account of his re¬ 
ligious convictions; three times he made missionary 
preaching tours through Holland and Germany; three 
different ways were chosen to set forth the faith that 
was in him, speech, pen and the founding of a province 
in the New World; three phases of activity marked his 
life;—as a forceful speaker, as a voluminous writer, as the 
self-sacrificing and successful proprietor of a ‘Tree colony 
for all mankind,” the future Keystone State. 

He was married to Gulielma Maria Springett in the 
year 1672, who died in the year 1694, leaving as their chil¬ 
dren: Springett, who died in infancy; Letitia, and Wil¬ 
liam. In the year 1696 he was married to Hannah Cal- 
lowhill, who with their three sons, John, Thomas and 
Richard, survived him. 


Wm. Penn 
the 


To secure payment of debts due his father, 
William Penn, June 24, 1680, asked of the 
king unoccupied crown land, “a tract of 
Founder j anc ] - n America north of Maryland, bounded 

on the east by the Delaware, on the west limited as Mary¬ 
land, northward as far as plantable.” By the royal 
signature, March 24, 1681, the grant was given by char¬ 
ter and he became the proprietor of future Pennsyl- 


20 


HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 


vania, “a tract of 390 miles by 160 of extreme fertility, 
mineral wealth and richness of all kinds.” 

“The charter having been granted Penn made im¬ 
mediate preparations to secure settlers for his province 



Jjf L/rcaf Cjod that made tf ee a ad me and ail the OPofld & acting 
our heart's to tone peace and dn/tice that roc may tiue jYicndUj \ \ 
fogrthergs becomes the mark me a /hip of the qrfnj (jod\ (J he v \ 
jfjna of k\)fund mho is a Li real 'Prince hatfij'or tivery 'Acajous 
if hinted to me a tarpe .country in Jimenea mind: however dam 
iivitma to jfnjoipupoigtriendip tenues mith. thee . cHiid tins a? y 
miff V.gt that the'people ‘who come f with pic are g juft plain and honcjfr 
people that neither make mar upon others nor fear marjrom other f v ' 
hecauje then mill he nisi. A hare sett up a docictjt or ffradcrj in , 

r\ c tP -•/ - /' > v v-v ^ ^ 




future {.trade a nOJt a rejoined mu ft me to fend lias Qlle/k neper to thee 
jpilh certain frejatb Jreui us to kjhtj our (TUUtinpnefs to have set ; 
fair Covrij]?onA nec iofth thee . Jind rjfrfft this eJtprt nt Jhaft d& 
'in oar names me mitt ajns a mo . ft hope ikon mitt kindly d 
Ac cave him and Comply nnlh his defdjcs on our he half hotfi 
with Acijsiit to find a/iO (.'race . Q he (j re at tjod be .J 
with thee . of men . }V . 


... M J 


Pm; , IM 


m 


LETTER OF INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM PENN “TO THE EMPEROR OF CANADA’’ 


and to develop its resources. The Free Society of 
Traders was organized to promote both these objects; 
pamphlets were prepared by his own hand and widely 
circulated either as a whole or in part in Holland, Ger¬ 
many and France, as well as in England and Wales, 
presenting the advantages of his province as a home for 











WILLIAM PENN, THE FOUNDER 


21 


all who were dissatisfied with their surroundings; an 
elaborate ‘frame of government’ for the province was 
also prepared by his own hand” (Swank). Sales of 
land were made. William Markham, cousin of William 
Penn and commissioner to establish his authority in 
the province, was sent to the province in the summer of 
1681, and William Penn himself with about seventy col¬ 
onists arrived in the ship, Welcome, October, 1682. 
Philadelphia county was organized and defined Decem¬ 
ber 4, 1682, at Upland. In March, 1693, the General As¬ 
sembly first met in Philadelphia which then became the 
seat of government. 


Purchase 

of 

Montg. Co. 


William J. Buck, in Scott’s Combination 
Atlas Map of Montgomery County, describes 
the purchase of the land of Montgomery 
county in the following words: 

“The earliest purchase by Penn of any part of 
what now constitutes Montgomery county was 
made June 25, 1683, of Wingebone, for all his right 
to lands lying on the west of the Schuylkill, begin¬ 
ning at the lower falls of the same, and so on up, 
and backwards of said stream as far as his right 
goes. The next purchase was made July 14th of 
the same year, from Secane and Idquoquehan and 
others, for all the land lying between the Mana- 
yunk or Schuylkill river, and Macopanackan or 
Chester river and up as far as Conshohocken hill, 
which is opposite the present borough of that 
name (Conshohocken). On the same day another 
purchase was made of Neneschickan, Malebore, 
Neshanocke, and Oscreneon for the lands lying 
between the Schuylkill and Pennepack, and extend¬ 
ing as far northward as Conshohocken, but now 
better known as Eldge Hill. On June 3, 1684, all 


22 


HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 



INDIAN DEED TO WILLIAM PENN, 1683, REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE STATE LIBRARY 

HARRISBURG, PA. 






PURCHASE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


23 



INDIAN DEED TO WILLIAM PENN, 1683, REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE STATE 

LIBRARY, HARRISBURG, PA. 















24 


HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 


the right of Maughausin to the land along the 
Perkiomen creek, was duly sold and conveyed, 
with an acknowledgment of goods received in sat¬ 
isfaction and a promise never to molest any Chris¬ 
tians that shall settle thereon. Four days after the 
aforesaid Mettamicont relinquishes all his right 
to the lands on both sides of the Pennepack. 
July 30, 1685, Shakhoppa, Secane, Malebore and 
Tangoras conveyed all their right to lands situ¬ 
ated between Chester and Pennepack creeks, and 
extending up jnto the country in a northeast di¬ 
rection from the sources of these streams, two 
full days’ journey. This grant takes in almost 
the whole of the county, excepting only that por¬ 
tion lying east of the Pennepack. July 5, 1697, 
another purchase was made from Tamany, Wehee— 
land, Wehequeekhon, Yaqueekhon, and Quena- 
mockquid for all their right to lands between the 
Pennepack and Neshaminy creeks, and extending 
in a northwest direction from the Delaware as far 
as a horse could travel in two days. Thus was fi¬ 
nally extinguished by purchase all the right and 
title of the Indians to any portion of the soil now 
embraced within the limits of Montgomery 
county.” 

Although Montgomery county was thus acquired by 
William Penn, there is no evidence that any permanent 
settlements had been made in it before he became pro¬ 
prietor. The Schuylkill river was discovered in 1616. 
The Swedish colony on the Delaware, 1638, probably 
made explorations. The Pennypack was noted and 
named, 1654. Land on the west side of the Schuylkill 
was conveyed 1677. The same year Beaver Island, 
known later as Duck Island, received its name. 


THE PIONEERS 


25 


In addition to zeal, vision, frame of govern- 
The ment, wide-spreading acres, field, forest and 

Pioneers stream, Penn needed men, brain and brawn, 
to make his Holy Experiment and these 
came. They came—at first singly, then in small groups, 
then by scores of shiploads, the stream of humanity 
swelling until the very floodgates of Europe seemed to 
have opened themselves. The Dutch, Swedes, English, 
Germans, Silesians, Welsh, French, Scotch-Irish, Afri¬ 
cans came. They came as Mennonite, Quaker, Schwenk- 
felder, Dunkard, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Catholic, 
Lutheran, Reformed, Deist, Atheist. They cautiously 
hugged the shores of the Delaware, they ventured into 
the adjoining counties, they scaled the mountains, 
forded the rivers, fought the wild beasts into interior 
- Pennsylvania and with their offspring overflowed state- 
bounds into Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, event¬ 
ually to radiate into the South and West and become 
part of the web and woof of the United States. 


Causes 

of 

Migration 


The forerunners of William Penn, Dutch, 
Swede and English, who numbering a few 
thousands did nothing to affect the state, had 
come as explorers, traders, and advance 
guard of their home countries, to colonize and establish 
governments. After the founding of the colony other mo¬ 
tives compelled migration. Men in Europe combined 
church and state. Men sought then by might and power, 
by merciless slaughter of fellowmen and ruthless destruc¬ 
tion of property, as they do now, to further what they re¬ 
garded as God’s cause. In consequence, religio-political war¬ 
fare had rent Europe a full century before Penn’s time. 
The pages of history of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, 
Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands abound in 
heartrending stories of exclusion from all public func- 


26 


HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 


tions, from the universities, and from engaging in com¬ 
merce or industry; of worthiest citizens being abruptly 
exiled from their homelands; of hundreds of thousands 
fleeing from their homes to strange lands for safety; of 
intolerable tyranny; of executions closely following exe¬ 
cutions; of cold-blooded murders; of parents with tiny 
babies fleeing to mountain fastnesses to perish of cold 
and hunger; of infants torn from the arms of their 
mothers; of multitudes being consigned to loathsome dun¬ 
geons, racked with exquisite torture and treated with 
every kind of outrage; of thousands being beheaded or 
hanged or burned or buried alive; of the heartless butch¬ 
ering of husbands before the eyes of their wives and 
children; of ministers being broken on the wheel; of 
women aged and young being tied to stakes in the sea 
to be overwhelmed and drowned by the advancing tides; 
of murder, rape, and incendiary conflagrations; of 
dragoons being quartered on the citizens who abandoned 
themselves to every kind of brutal violence and excess; 
of men even making a study as to how to inflict all the 
pain the human body could endure short of death— 
countless cruelties committed in the name of religion. 
Can there be any wonder that earnest souls in these coun¬ 
tries were anxious to go to Pennsylvania, the land of re¬ 
ligious liberty? 

Other classes of immigrants were the redemptioners, 
the Hessians, the slaves. The redemptioners, poverty 
stricken at home, but of noblest soul, came to es¬ 
cape abject misery of the homeland, and thus bet¬ 
ter their temporal condition, and became nation 
builders. Unprincipled newlanders found gain in 
convincing these to migrate. Ship captains likewise 
found gain in transporting them or sinking their 
lifeless bodies in the deep sea and robbing their chests 
and purses, and, voyage ended, selling the survivors on 


CAUSES OF MIGRATION 


27 


the auction block. Mittelberger, an eyewitness, thus de¬ 
scribes these sales: “Every day, Englishmen, Dutchmen, 
and high German people come from the city of Philadel¬ 
phia and other places, some from a great distance, say 
ninety, and one hundred and twenty miles away, and go 
on board the newly arrived ship that has brought and 
offers for sale passengers from Europe, and select among 
the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their 
business, and bargain with them how long they will serve 
for their passage money, for which most of them are still 
in debt. When they have come to an agreement, it hap¬ 
pens that adult persons bind themselves in writing to 
serve three, four, five, or six years for the amount due by 
them according to their age and strength. * * * Many per¬ 
sons must sell and trade away their children like so many 
head of cattle * * * as the parents often do not know 
where and to what people their children are going, it 
often happens that such parents and children, after leav¬ 
ing the ship do not see each other again for years, per¬ 
haps no more in all their lives.” The Hessians, involuntary 
hirelings, came here as part of the British army to help 
prevent America winning its God-given rights. They re¬ 
mained as deserters from the army to become useful citi¬ 
zens, even though despised and maligned. Negroes were 
brought here against their wills to be bought and sold 
for gain as cattle, and to be made the involuntary toilers 
and burden-bearers for the enrichment of the white man 
in Penn’s “free colony for all mankind.” 

Rocks such as these were the materials chosen by 
destiny to lay the foundations of our Montgomery 
county. How they were placed will be considered in the 
next chapter. 


28 


HOW THE COUNTY WAS ACQUIRED 





MODERN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
Hatfield Township and Borough Worcester Township 

Lower Merion Township Abington Township 


























CHAPTER III 

SETTLING THE COUNTY 


Conveying In Chapter 1 [t was shown that great 
^ ' changes have taken place within the limits 

°f Montgomery county since the white man 

has taken possession and that it is desirable 
to know the history of the county. In Chapter II attention 
was directed to William Penn, the man and the founder 
of Pennsylvania, to the acquisition of Montgomery 
county, and to the first settlers and the reasons why they 
came. The next logical step is to learn how the settlers 
acquired possession of and gradually transformed and 
developed the county—the aim of this chapter. 

The story of the conveying of title from the proprie¬ 
tor, William Penn, and his heirs to the pioneers, of the 
laying out of the roads, of the gradual acquisition, settle¬ 
ment, and development of the county, is interesting and 
instructive, but can be told only very briefly and in gen¬ 
eral terms. In the twilight decades of the county the 
toilers made rather than recorded history. On account of 
the primitive condition of people and land, surveys were 
not always accurate. Roads were used upon sufferance, 
twenty, thirty, and more years, without legal confirma¬ 
tion. In compiling the road dockets the transcriber seem¬ 
ingly did not put into his records all the road data and 
became confused in arranging the material chronologi¬ 
cally on account of the year, prior to 1752, beginning in 
March according to the Old Style and not in January ac¬ 
cording to the New Style. Affairs in general were in a 
more or less confused condition many years. 

William Penn acquired title to his colony, not for him¬ 
self but for others; not to hold but to pass on; not to be- 


30 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


come rich but to make rich. He sold more than half a 
million acres of unlocated land in his province before even 
seeing it himself, some of which was located in Mont¬ 
gomery county. Subsequently to his arrival, many addi¬ 
tional tracts, varying greatly in size, were sold to indi¬ 
viduals and companies. Title was conveyed by a deed of 
grant in fee simple called patent, either by himself or 
through commissioners acting for him. The terms of 
sale varied, but usually included quit-rent, which meant 
that the purchaser was quit and free from all feudal ser¬ 
vice. The quit-rents occasioned a great deal of trouble 
later on. 

To acquire a definite tract of land the intending pur¬ 
chaser would, upon application to the land office, receive 
a warrant addressed to the surveyor-general specifying 
approximately the location and acreage of the land 
which the applicant either wished to buy or to have sur¬ 
veyed in right of a previous purchase of unlocated land. 
The surveyor-general or his deputy thereupon made the 
survey, the return of which was delivered to the land 
office within six months. Title to such surveyed land 
began ordinarily with the issue of the warrant, but was 
not conveyed until the conditions of sale were complied 
with—often delayed fifty or more years during which 
period ownership was probably transferred a number of 
times. If conditions of sale were not complied with the 
grant of land was declared void, after which new appli¬ 
cations for the tract would be considered. Resurveys 
were for various reasons made and new patents issued 
based on these. 

Title by improvement was a right acquired by one 
who, without observing established regulations, occu¬ 
pied land not already sold or appropriated by the proprie¬ 
taries. Through the acquiescence of the land officers and 
even of the Penns themselves, both as an inducement to 


CONVEYING THE TITLE 


31 


settle and develop and as an offset to meet the competi¬ 
tion of other colonies, the practice of making allowance 
for improvements grew up at a very early period. It 
was estimated that by the year 1726 one hundred thou¬ 
sand persons had settled on land within the province 
without a shadow of right. These were the squatters of 
whom there were some within Montgomery county. 


Locatina The highwa ^ s the county were Indian 
t j le trails and the Schuylkill river. Bridle 

Roads Paths and cartways came into use as a mat¬ 

ter of necessity without legal process. As 
the need of a legally confirmed road became evident a 
petition would be submitted to the Court of Quarter 
Sessions, who, on favorable consideration of the peti¬ 
tion, would name six citizens as viewers of the proposed 
road. These, or any four of them, with the assistance 
of a surveyor, would view the desired road, lay it out, 
and submit their report, including a draft of the road, 
to the court who, if they approved, would confirm the 
report and instruct the overseers to cut and open the 
road. The running of boundary lines and the locating of 
roads through deep forests, matted underbrush, and 
treacherous marshes, particularly in the unsettled sec¬ 
tions of the county, and in the midst of the wild animal 
life, was a tedious and trying task. William Penn had 
planned to lay out main roads in advance of settlement. 
This could not be done. In consequence he donated for 
the use of roads six acres for every one hundred a man 
purchased. This allowance of six per cent has ever 
since been made in all patents. 


In the laying out of roads the division lines between 
adioining tracts were in many cases followed so that each 
contributed half of the road-bed for which no compensa¬ 
tion was allowed. Old roads are in consequence im¬ 
portant landmarks. 


32 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


In the peopling of the county the Swedes be¬ 
came residents of Upper Merion; the Dutch 
of Perkiomen, Skippack, and Providence; 
the Welsh, of the Merions, Gwynedd, Whit- 
pain, Towamencin, Hatfield, Montgomery, Whitemarsh, 
and Plymouth townships. The English were first set¬ 
tlers of Cheltenham, Abington, Plymouth, Springfield, 
Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin, Moreland, and Horsham; 
the Germans settled mostly in the upper end of the 
county, although a few families were located in town¬ 
ships near Germantown. In some sections English, 
Welsh, and German dwelt and prospered side by side. 
The German supplanted the Welshman and Dutchman 
in many instances; the latter soon outgrew their mother 
tongue, while the former has retained his in the familiar 
Pennsylvania-German dialect. 

For the sake of brevity and preciseness, present-day 
geographical terms are used here and elsewhere regard¬ 
less of the time when names and places originated. 

Such far-reaching changes were wrought in a few 
years that it seems best to study the settling of the 
county by decades. 

The pupil in observing the onward progress of 
events must bear in mind the moulding influence of 
Philadelphia, for many years the great gateway from 
Europe to Penn’s colony, and Germantown, the town of 
the Germans, the two centers from which the immi¬ 
grants radiated into the surrounding country. Philadel¬ 
phia and Montgomery counties have been interdependent 
from the very beginning of their existence. Either with¬ 
out the other would have found the struggle for life 
and its comforts much severer than was actually experi¬ 
enced. 


People 

and 

Language 


PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE 


33 



BENJAMIN LAY (1677-1759) 

“Lived to the Age of 80, in the Latter Part of Which, he Observed ex- 
treem Temperance in his Eating and Drinking, his Fondness for a Particu¬ 
larity in Dress and Custome at times Subjected him to the Ridicule of the 
Ignorant but his Freinds who were Intimate with Him thought Him an 
Honest Religious man.” 














34 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


1682 

to 

1690 


During this period patents were issued for 
land in Abington, Cheltenham, Horsham, 
Merion, Moreland, Springfield, Towamencin, 
Upper Dublin, Whitemarsh, and Whitpain. 
In addition warrants were issued for tracts in Fran¬ 
conia, Montgomery, Limerick, Providence, Salford, and 
Worcester. Homes were being established, at least, in 
Cheltenham, Lower Merion, Plymouth, Whitemarsh, and 
Whitpain. Springfield was set aside for Penn’s wife, 
and Norriton, under the name of Williamstaedt, for his 
son William. Some of these and many later transac¬ 
tions, involving each a thousand acres or more, were 
land speculations which rendered a distinct service to the 
infant colony even though at times undue advantage was 
taken of poor and unintelligent immigrants. Hunters 
and prospectors for rich ores probably penetrated the 
forests far beyond the tracts covered by patents and 
warrants. 

It seemed for a while as if manors with manorial 
rights might become established in Moreland, Spring- 
field, and the Welsh tract; the name, and name only, 
Manor of Moreland, lingered almost if not quite a cen¬ 
tury. 

The townships named above were of course not organ¬ 
ized; their boundaries were in consequence undefined. 
Abington, Cheltenham, Lower Merion, Moreland and 
Plymouth originated however. The three original 
counties, though redefined, were still vague and indefinite, 
and remained so for many years. In consequence some 
geographical terms designated much larger tracts than 
they do at present. 

Plymouth road, which became a main thoroughfare 
to Germantown and Philadelphia and later was embodied 
in the Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike, was laid 
out as a cartroad. When it was granted the proviso was 


1682 TO 1690 


35 


made that there must be no disturbance or molestation 
of the Indians in laying it out. The Schuylkill river be¬ 
ing a highway, conflicts arose between boatmen and 
fishermen, which later caused the passage of laws against 
the erection of racks, weirs, and dams in the river. 


1691 

to 

1700 


In this period there was a natural lull in land 
transactions. Only a few patents were is¬ 
sued in Springfield and Upper Dublin. War¬ 
rants were granted for the Lane tract of 
2500 acres in Providence and the Fairman tract of 1000 
acres in Franconia. Gwynedd was acquired by the 
Welsh. The Pennsylvania Land Company bought 5000 
acres in Lower Providence, the last of which was dis¬ 
posed of half a century later. The Welsh tract west of the 
Schuylkill, occupied by eighty families, was divided, 
part being thrown into Chester county, the residents 
thus early learning by practical experience what divid¬ 
ing and ruling means in politics. 

Communities in Abington, Whitemarsh, Gwynedd, 
and Lower Merion were populous enough to make de¬ 
sirable the erection of meeting houses for religious wor¬ 
ship. These with the bridges and schoolhouses became 
landmarks by which to designate places and communi¬ 
ties. 

During this time pioneers, following the Schuylkill 
river, penetrated beyond the present limits of the 
county. They soon began to clamor for road accommo¬ 
dations. 


The Scotch-Irish who began to appear at the close 
of the period were encouraged to move to the frontier— 
and incidentally to live free lives and prepare to free 
others. 

Roads demanded attention. Radnor in Chester 
county and Cheltenham sent in their applications. In 


36 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


a petition for the Limekiln road, from the Fitzwater 
limekilns to the city, the signers spoke of running the 
road into the Plymouth road “near Cresson where there 
is neither improved land, hill nor water to interfere.” 

The first lime used in Philadelphia was made of 
burnt oystershells, but competition by the Fitzwater lime 
soon drove the oystershell lime from the market. Roads 
were laid out to accommodate the lime carts. Horses 
tugged away in these, single file. This meant three ruts 
to be filled by rains in summer time and frozen hard in 
winter time. A law was therefore passed that not more 
than three horses could be hitched tandem. If there 
were more they had to be hitched two and two abreast. 


1701 

to 

1710 


Patents were issued during this period for 
land in Douglass, Frederick, Gwynedd, Hat¬ 
field, Horsham. Limerick, Montgomery, 
Providence, Merion, New Hanover, Norri- 
ton, Plymouth, Salford, Towamencin, Upper Dublin, 
Whitemarsh, Whitpain, and Worcester. Among the 
larger tracts granted were: Manor of Mount Joy, 7800 
acres, to Letitia, daughter of the proprietor; William- 
staedt, 7480 acres, to William, the son of the proprietor; 
Manor of Douglass, 12,000 acres, to John, the son of the 
proprietor; the Frankfort Land Company tract, 22,377 
acres; Van Bebber township, 6166 acres, to Martin Van 
Bebber; Horsham, 5062 acres, to Joseph Fisher, and 5088 
acres to Samuel Carpenter; Plymouth, 5327 acres, to 
Francis Rawle and Elizabeth Fox; Limerick, 3600 acres, 
to the Pennsylvania Company; Providence, 2500 acres, to 
Edward Lane. Gwynedd township, acquired and occu¬ 
pied by 30 Welsh families, was resurveyed, 7820 acres be¬ 
coming thereby 11,000 acres. Williamstaedt, later known 
as Norriton, was sold, a few days after the patent was 
granted, to Edward Trent and Isaac Norris. Trent dis- 


1701 to 1710 


37 


posed of his interest and went to New Jersey to give his 
name to Trenton. John Penn in 1735 sold his tract to 
George McCall, when it became known as McCall Manor. 
John Henry Sprogell acquired by questionable means all 
of the Frankfort Land Company grant, reaching from 
the Schuylkill river nearly to the Bucks county line. Pas- 
torius, who was a financial loser through the crooked 
dealings of Sprogell, spoke of his (Sprogell’s) “unheard- 
of villanies, perverseness/’ and his “diabolical lies, pride, 
bragging, and boasting.” Among the patents issued were 
a few in Frederick township, not far from Schwenksville, 
where the patentees saw visions of wealth in the form 
of copper mines. One of these patents was allowed to be¬ 
come void; the other furnished business for the sheriff. 

Roads called for increasing attention. Disputes were 
arising that had to be disposed of. Petitions clamored for 
new roads which were laid out, radiating from Philadel¬ 
phia towards Cheltenham, Chester county, Pennypack 
creek, Perkiomen creek, Maunitauny and on into Berks 
county. Opening roads meant the cutting and clearing 
of a sufficient cartway with ax, pick and shovel. Turn¬ 
pike roads were a full century away; concrete roads two 
centuries away. 

Settlers were already beginning to get into each 
other’s way as, for example, John Jones, a Philadelphia 
merchant, who was developing a plantation in the north¬ 
east section of Lower Moreland, complained that other 
settlers were interfering with his operations. 

Farmar’s mill on the Wissahickon, known later far 
and wide, began to rattle and chatter. Congregations 
still existing were organized in Whitemarsh and New 
Hanover. Some of the Welshmen beyond the Schuylkill 
must have regarded themselves as oldtimers, for in a pe¬ 
tition to the court they spoke of their being settled there 

many years. 


38 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


The following townships were established: Gwynedd, 
Whitemarsh and Whitpain. 


Land grants were comparatively few in this 
period because of Penn’s condition and 
ceased altogether at his death in 1718. The 
patents issued were located in Franconia, 


1711 

to 

1720 


Providence, Salford, Springfield, and Worcester town¬ 
ships. The three largest grants were in Franconia: 810 
acres to Thomas Wilson which was kept intact until 
1789; 610 acres to James Dickinson, and 893 acres to 
Francis Daniel Pastorius; the latter two not being kept 
intact very long. 

Roads, as usual, demanded attention. Many of them 
were used on sufferance and were liable to be closed at 
any time without notice by the landowners. Petitions 
for roads dwelt on the need of roads to mills, fulling mills 
and houses of worship. Inns had not yet come into promi¬ 
nence as landmarks. One petition calls for a road from 
the Perkiomen, through vacant land to the Frankfort 
tract and on to Amity, showing that settlements were 
being made in sections, leaving other sections unsettled. 
The roads confirmed were confined mainly to points 
within the lower half of the county and rather crosswise 
than lengthwise of the county, showing that there was 
a call for intercommunication between points within the 
county. The Old York road, the Bethlehem road, and the 
Welsh road were among those confirmed. 

During this period Thomas Rutter began the manu¬ 
facture of iron along the Manatawny, not far from Potts- 
town; the first in the United States. Thomas Potts, Jr., 
also took up the same industry. These soon began to 
petition for roads. The iron industry naturally involved 
the development of other industries. 

The Swedes took up their residence in the neighbor- 


1711 to 1720 


39 


hood of Bridgeport and Dutch and Germans began to ap¬ 
pear in the Perkiomen, Skippack, Providence section. 

Van Bebber gave 100 acres upon which all inhabitants 
of his township might build a schoolhouse and bury their 
dead. Similar gifts were made by others. 



THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE, VALLEY FORGE; BUILT, 1705, BY LETITIA 
AUBREY, THE SECOND DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM PENN. 
RESTORED BY PARK COMMISSION 


Churches of various faiths were organized in White- 
marsh, Abington, Plymouth, Upper Salford, Horsham, 
and Montgomery townships, the erection of buildings 
following as soon as money and men made the step pos¬ 
sible. 

Before the close of this period the population of the 
province had grown to 40,000, of whom the half were 
Friends, and a fourth lived in Philadelphia. Naturally 
a considerable portion of these had to travel through 
Montgomery county on their way to and from the city. 

The following townships were established: Horsham, 
Montgomery, Upper Dublin, Upper Merion. 








40 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


1721 

to 

1730 


No patents were issued in this period until 
the sons of William Penn, to whom the pro¬ 
prietor bequeathed his Pennsylvania inter¬ 
ests, had become of age. Grants were then 


made for a few tracts in Frederick, Salford, and Wor¬ 
cester. Among these were: 500 acres to James Steel in 
Frederick, 1300 to the same party, in Salford and Fran¬ 
conia, and 1052 acres to Derick Janson. The Salford 
patentees were Germans. Warrants were taken up for 
a few tracts in Upper Hanover. 

It was during this period that the Reformed and 
Lutherans began to arrive in considerable numbers. 
These came in companies accompanied by pastors and 
teachers. As a result of the coming of the great num¬ 
bers of Germans, the Palatine immigrants were re¬ 
quired to subscribe an oath or promise to be faithful and 
bear true allegiance to the king and the proprietor, a 
pledge that meant perplexity when the Revolutionary 
war took place. In the petition for the establishment of 
Frederick township all the signers but one wrote their 
names in German. In another petition of 35 names only 
eight were signed in English. 

The following townships were established: Frederick, 
Limerick, New Hanover, Norriton, Perkiomen-Skippack, 
Towamencin, and Providence. This showed a substantial 
increase of population, as did the erection bf new mills 
along the Skippack and the organization of churches in 
Providence, Horsham, Methacton and New Goshenhop- 
pen, near East Greenville. 

The road problems afford a glimpse of the life in the 
county. In the petitions schoolhouses are referred to, 
showing that they, like bridges and meetinghouses, were 
becoming well-recognized landmarks. Petitions for con¬ 
firmation of roads in use for more than thirty years on 
sufferance were presented to court. Disputes developed 


1721 TO 1730 


41 


resulting in the presentation of rival road drafts. At 
times several sets of viewers were appointed in succes¬ 
sion for one road. Occasionally trouble grew out of the 
fact that road records had not been made properly or had 
been lost. Isaac Norris felt aggrieved because a road cut 
obliquely through his broad lands, but the oblique road is 
still in use. In one petition complaint is made of being 
“persecuted with lies and slanders by such that either 
do not understand or do not regard humanity or law.” 
In one case a road was said to be kept up out of spite 
and not as a necessity. A Merion resident seems to have 
had little faith in his government, for he was unwilling 
to have a road cut until damages had been paid. Most 
of the roads confirmed were in the lower end and cross 
county. In the upper end, the Swamp road, the Sumney- 
town and Salfordville roads were laid out. 

The only Indian trouble within the county, which 
was due to a clashing between a few workmen of the 
ironworks and Indians, flared up in this decade but died 
down without doing the harm that had been feared. 
More will be said of this later. 


1731 

to 

171+0 


In this decade patents were issued for land 
in Frederick, Limerick, Marlborough, Provi¬ 
dence, Salford, Springfield, Towamencin, 

, Upper Dublin, Upper Hanover, Whitpain, 
and Worcester. In addition many warrants were issued 
for which patents were granted later. By the end of 
the period most of the land of the county had been taken 
up. A petition for the establishment of Upper Hanover 
mentions sixty families as being settled between the 
townships of Salford and New Hanover. Another peti¬ 
tion shows that there was a “great vacancy” or unsettled 
region between the Upper Hanover settlement and the 
western end of New Hanover. The settlement of Marl- 


42 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


borough began about 1733 when Joseph Groff and 
Gabriel Shuler had lands surveyed for mill properties. 
Thomas Maybury, who engaged in the iron industry, ac¬ 
quired on a warrant of 1737, 1920 acres in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Greenlane, lying in Marlborough and Frederick 
townships. Mills were erected in Frederick and Upper 
Hanover in this decade. Abington supplied the lime for 
the new State House, Philadelphia. 

Among other signs of growth of population were: 
Schoolhouses and churches, which were becoming more 
numerous; blacksmith shops, which became known as 
landmarks; Swedesford, across the Schuylkill between 
the east and west sides, which was becoming quite noted; 
the German element of the population, half of the people 
being German by 1734; the Hoppenville road laid out 
from Macungie in Lehigh county to Sumneytown, a road 
which attained national importance in the conveyance 
of food supplies to the troops at Valley Forge; the 
Schwenkfelder company of immigrants, numbering about 
200 souls, who after trying to acquire a large tract of 
land and settle in a group, were compelled to buy small 
tracts separately because the available land was all cut 
up and held by private individuals. 

The roads furnish interesting sidelights on the situ¬ 
ation. The George McCall manor had “roads so bad that 
it was difficult for a horse to pass without damage.” 
Roads from Bucks and Chester counties had to be ex¬ 
tended wholly or partly through the county. The Morris 
road zigzagging through the country from Clement’s 
mill (later Alderfer’s) to Morris’ mill (formerly 
Farmar’s) was suggested in this decade, viewed and re¬ 
viewed and re-reviewed and was giving the courts trouble 
thirty years later on account of errors and jealousies. 
Merion petitions stated that “ancient settlers” were shut 
up through want of roads and that roads in use thirty 


1731 to 1740 


43 


years had been closed. The number of roads granted, 
viewed and reviewed shows a considerable new demand 
for accommodations. 

The following townships were erected during the 
decade: Douglass, Franconia, Frederick, Upper Hanover, 
and Worcester. 


1741 

to 

1750 


Patents were issued during this decade for 
land in Franconia, Frederick, Marlborough, 
Providence, New Hanover, Salford, Upper 
Hanover, and Worcester. Salford was cut 
up by the establishment of Upper Salford, Lower Sal¬ 
ford, Marlborough, and Hatfield townships. 

New church buildings, schoolhouses and mills were 
going up in different parts of the county. Muhlenberg 
and Schlatter appeared in the field to organize the Luth¬ 
erans and Reformed into religious bodies. The Catholics 
established their first mission in rural Pennsylvania 
across the county line at Bally, Berks county, which be¬ 
came their missionary base for a very wide territory. 
Whitefield on his evangelistic tours had audiences of 
thousands in the German communities of Towamencin 
and Frederick. Muhlenberg gives a glimpse of the peo¬ 
ple settled in the county when he speaks of all phases of 
religious belief and unbelief and all nationalities being 
represented. 

More roads of a distinctively local character were 
confirmed in this period. Some of the confirmations 
covered roads that wind around considerably, probably 
because a number of roads not necessarily in a direct line 
of travel were combined for purpose of confirmation. 

Patents were issued for land in Franconia, 
Frederick, Marlborough, Providence, the 
t() Salfords, Springfield, Towamencin, and Up- 

per Hanover. The Providence patents were 
a result of letting farmers have in their own right por- 


44 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


tions of the Manor of Gilbert, still held by the Penns, 
which they had been cultivating on long leases. 

Roads were laid out in every part of the county, 
showing that new sections were continually developing 
that needed avenues of communication with the older 
communities. 

During this period the northwest boundary of the 
county was fixed by the establishment of Berks county, 
the line running along the northwest boundary line of 
McCall Manor, and extending to the Bucks county line. 

In educational lines an advance step was shown by 
the establishment of the Boys’ Boarding School in the 
Heebner-Antes mill of Frederick township and the 
Charity Schools; the latter were soon abandoned, the 
former became the Nazareth Military Academy. That 
there must have been at least some educated Germans 
in the colony is shown by the fact that Sauer issued a 
German Bible in 1743 and Franklin issued in this decade 
more than fifty books in German. The latter had more 
love for the money of the Germans than their companion¬ 
ship. 

This was the time of the French and Indian war, of 
which more will be said in another connection. A few 
incidents may be mentioned. A Montgomery county 
farmer had bought a farm in Berks county at the foot 
of the Blue mountains. His two daughters were mas¬ 
sacred in harvest time. At the call of the authorities the 
farmers supplied horses, wagons, and men to haul mili¬ 
tary supplies to Bedford. Montgomery county citizens 
attended the Indian treaties at Easton, Pa. A militia 
law for the colony was adopted during this period. 

In 1751 Martin Zendler, of New Hanover, died at an 
advanced age. He had been one of the pioneers and 
served as a kind of milestone between the primitive 
and later periods. He used to relate that in his young 


1751 to 1760 


45 


days nien had to struggle in the forest for a bare living. 
The people were poor but they were also helpful, faith¬ 
ful, earnest, humble, and industrious. Then Indians 
sti oiled among them and profited by the milk, bread, and 
other gifts the whites chose to give them. The popula¬ 
tion giew on all sides; the raising of cattle was intro¬ 
duced; the cleared and cultivated fields began to yield 
moi e bountiful crops. Instead of gratitude, however, 
vices sprang up, drunkenness, luxurious living, and the 
meie pleasuies of sense. Communities came to be known 
as dens of drunkards and murderers (“Sauf und Mord- 
grube”). 


1761 

to 

1770 


The gradual passing of the soil of the county 
from proprietors to private ownership is 
shown by the few patents granted for small 
tracts in Frederick, Hatfield, Limerick, 
Marlborough, Providence, the Salfords, and Upper Han¬ 
over. For most of these, warrants had been issued thirty 
and more years ago. In Hatfield a tract of 1020 acres, 
which had been held intact by the Penns almost one hun¬ 
dred years, was cut up into ten parts and conveyed to 
individual owners. 


At this time there were within Philadelphia county: 
83 gristmills, 40 sawmills, 6 papermills, 1 oilmill, 12 full- 
ingmills, 1 horsemill, 1 windmill, and 6 forges. 

In 1767 the exports of Philadelphia were: 367,500 
bushels of wheat, 198,516 barrels of flour, 34,736 barrels 
of bread, 60,206 bushels of corn, 6,645 barrels of pork, 
609 barrels of beef, 882 tons of bar iron, 813 tons of pig 
iron, 12,094 hogsheads of flaxseed, and 1,288 barrels of 
beer. Montgomery county probably supplied a great 
part of this business. 

Among the roads laid out or resurveyed were the 
Egypt road to Phoenixville, the Port Kennedy road in 


46 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


Upper Merion, the Ridge road across Marlborough, 
Frederick, and New Hanover by way of Fagleysvile to 
the Schuylkill river. Complaints were made that the 
Ridge road from Lower Providence to Whitemarsh was 
narrow, seldom repaired, and that there was no record 
of courses or breadth of road. Various other roads were 
laid out, as a study of the map shows. 

Philadelphia had reason to fear a wood famine by this 
time. It was using 300,000 cords of wood annually for 
fuel purposes alone. This with the building needs 
created a problem. Commissioners were appointed by 
the Assembly to take charge of cleaning, scouring, and 
making navigable the Schuylkill river from the Blue 
mountains to the Delaware for boats, flats, rafts, and 
other small vessels. The pioneer problem of getting rid 
of trees to raise crops had been changed to one of provid¬ 
ing what the farms could no longer supply. 

Another evidence of the development of things in 
general was the springing up of stage lines. Communica¬ 
tion was provided by these with Allentown, Bethlehem, 
Easton, Nazareth, Wilkes-Barre, as well as points to the 
northwest and southwest. A good deal of this traffic 
must have been conveyed over the roads radiating from 
Philadelphia through the county. Notwithstanding all 
this traffic there were but few bridges. The following 
extract relating to Main street, Norristown, pictures a 
general condition of the county roads and fords—“A very 
public road crosses Stoney Creek near the River Schuyl¬ 
kill in the township of Norriton just below Norris’s Mill 
Dam and where there is very considerable declivity or 
fall in the channel of the said Creek, the ford being 
also a rocky and uneven Bottom;—These circumstances 
ever concurring renders it a fearful and dangerous Ford 
in Freshets; and inasmuch as a bridge is the only ex¬ 
pedient that can be thought of to render the passage safe 


1761 TO 1770 


47 


and agreeable to travelers which might we conceive be 
erected for a small sum as one arch would be sufficient 
and the material might be had very convenient.” What 
fording streams meant in summer time with loaded 
wagons and in winter time with loaded sleighs en¬ 
dangered by raging floods or treacherous ice it is hard to 
conceive for those accustomed to modern macadam roads 
and concrete bridges. 

The county’s fame was made international when one 
of her farmer boys, David Rittenhouse, the self-made 
scientist, observed the transit of Venus from his own ob¬ 
servatory in Norriton township. The Schwenkfelders 
who had come into the county, beneficiaries of charitable 
Mennonites, had accumulated enough means to raise an 
endowment fund for the maintenance of schools in their 
midst. The Lutherans of New Hanover were old enough 
as a congregation to erect their fourth place of worship, 
a stately building still in use. On Bethel Hill the Meth¬ 
odists erected a place of worship made famous later by 
the preaching of Jemima Wilkinson, an 18th century re¬ 
vivalist who drew Yankees and Pennsylvanians, includ¬ 
ing some influential county families, to found Penn-Yan 
in New York. 


1771 

to 

17 8 U 


Patents were issued for land in Frederick, 
Marlborough, the Salfords, and Upper Han¬ 
over. Most of these were reissues based on 
warrants issued many years previously. A 
patent was issued in 1883 for a tract in Marlborough 
on warrant granted in 1756. 

Among the few road confirmations of the period was 

one of a road from the Egypt road in Norriton to Swedes 
Ford road in Upper Merion across the river channel and 
Barbadoes island. The erection of the dam in the river 
caused the roadbed to be overflowed. The inhabitants of 


48 


SETTLING THE COUNTY 


Marlborough, Upper Salford, Upper Hanover, and other 
districts petitioned court for a bridge over Swamp creek 
at Sumneytown. The grand jury to whom the matter was 
referred favored the bridge—“Yet they think as the ex¬ 
penses of carrying on the war and the taxes are so very 
high; they are unanimously of opinion it had better be 
postponed till a future day.” The court concurred and 
the bridge was not built at that time. The first bridge 
over the Schuylkill within the county was Sullivan bridge 
at Valley Forge erected as a war measure. 

This period covers the Revolutionary War, the estab¬ 
lishment of the United States of America, for the study 
of which the pupil is referred to histories of the state 
and nation. The part Montgomery county played in the 
great change will be considered in another connection. 

The county had become a compact rural community, 
considerably developed agriculturally and industrially. 
Its period of settlement, pioneer days, and beginnings 
was in the past. Gristmills, sawmills, fullingmills, 
churches, schoolhouses, stately mansions, massive barns, 
roads, fruitful fields, grazing cattle, marked the land¬ 
scape, but there were no printing presses, no news¬ 
papers, no towns, no canals, only a few bridges, no turn¬ 
pikes, no postoffices, no county seat, no prison, only one 
public library, two stage lines, thirty-five churches—none 
of the conveniences and luxuries that make modern life 
so comfortable and enjoyable. But Montgomery, hitherto 
a part of a nationally important county, stood at the 
threshold of becoming a self-existent, independent com¬ 
munity. How the problem was solved and how the 
county grew will be considered in Chapter V. 


CHAPTER IV 

EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


One of the first steps in building a house is to 
find the place where to build. The pioneers in 
doing this soon learned that some land could 
either not be bought at all or only at an ad¬ 
vanced price because it was reserved for the proprietary 
family or had been grabbed by land speculators. Some, 
planning soon to move to other quarters, would squat at 
an attractive point and, avoiding the laying out of money 


Locating 

the 

Home 



A PIONEER’S HUT 


or the making of permanent improvements, would snatch 
what crops they could and await the order to pay up or 
move on. James Logan, agent of the Penn Family, 1725, 
wrote that immigrants came as bold, indigent strangers 
who seized the best vacant land without any legal war- 













50 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


rant, rarely proposing to purchase, alleging that they 
came in response to appeals for colonists and offer of 
superabundance of land. Many of these made out well, 
paid for their land and became influential citizens. In 
deciding the question of location careful consideration 
was given to good drinking water, to nature of soil and 
ease of making clearings, to nearness of markets, to place 
of residence of kin, acquaintances, and those using the 
same language. 

The location of the future plantation and 
home having been determined, the providing 
of a place to eat and sleep, of shelter from 
heat and cold, from rain and snow and ani¬ 
mals that might endanger life received first considera¬ 
tion. Occasionally unmarried men toiled alone in sum¬ 
mer on their future farms, putting up buildings and 
raising crops and in winter time hiring out in older 
settlements to earn cash and get experience. In some¬ 
what thickly settled sections neighbors could afford a 
temporary home while the primitive shelter was being 
provided. The first lodging place, crude and simple, 
might be a tent, an overhanging rock, or a widespread- 
ing tree, a campfire by night protecting the sleepers. 
Unassisted the lonely backwoodsman could with a few 
tools, perhaps brought from the homeland, dig a cave 
or cellar by the hillside, roof it over with branches of 
trees, leaves, grasses and well-tamped ground. 

Building a hut required more time, skill, and labor. 
It meant the planting in the ground of two upright 
forked poles, the placing of a ridgepole in the forks, 
the slanting of slabs or young trees against the ridge¬ 
pole on three sides, the making of a roof of ground, the 
hanging of a blanket or a few hides across the fourth 
side. Log dwelling houses by the hearty co-operation 


Pioneer 

Dwelling 

Places 


PIONEER DWELLING PLACES 


51 


of friendly neighbors could be put up in a few days. To 
build and furnish a house in some measure approaching 
our modern dwellings, called for the cutting, sawing and 
seasoning of the lumber, the burning of the lime, the 
manufacture by hand of doors, sashes, mouldings, etc., 
perhaps the making and burning of bricks, the fashioning 
of furniture with ,crude and primitive tools and appli¬ 
ances. The increase of the conveniences of society, the 



EARLY LOG HOUSES 


specialization and centralization of labor made the erec¬ 
tion of buildings easier and simpler but also more ex¬ 
pensive. The buying of a house by catalogue number, like 
a pound of sugar, a piece of calico, or a toy for a child, 
was many years in the futuie. 

As circumstances permitted or necessitated buildings 
to protect farm animals and implements and to provide a 
storage place for grain and fodder were erected. 





52 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


Clothing 

the 

Body 


The dress of pioneer backwoodsmen was nat¬ 
urally plain and simple. Necessity often com¬ 
pelled them to make use of the untanned skins 
of the animals they trapped or shot with 


which to make clothing and shoes. It cannot have been 
a very pleasant experience in winter time to step from 
a warm bed, temperature at zero, and slip into clothes of 
skins frozen stiff, which had to be thawed out by the 
heat of the body. The making of homespun clothing, by 
no means a simple or easy task, soon followed. To clear 
and plow virgin soil, to raise the flax, to pull the plants, 
to remove the tiny seeds from the boll, to ret and brake 
the woody part of the stalks, to scutch and hatchel the 
glossy fibres, to spin and weave the slender threads, to 
full and color the woven fabric, to cut and sew the cloth 
into garments, however ill-fitting, all by members of the 
same family, called for great skill, training and knowl¬ 
edge, even though the workers were uneducated. This 
era of homemade clothes reached far beyond the forma¬ 
tion of the county in 1784. Linsey-woolsey, woolen, 
and cotton goods gradually came into use and the com¬ 
munity shoemaker and tailor with tools, goods and oft- 
told jokes softened the primitive hardships. 


In preparing her daily meals the pioneer 
housewife could have recourse to the fish in 
the streams and to the game of the forest, 
both much more plentiful than now. Wild 



pigeons flew in flocks so large that they obscured the sky 
for hours and so low that' they could be hit with sticks. 
Trout teemed in brooks that have long since run dry. 
Shad made their annual trips up the smaller streams be¬ 
fore the dams and poisons of civilization interfered. Mills 
being at first but few, crude and far between, flour either 
could not be had at all or only of very inferior quality. 


THE DAILY BREAD 


53 


Homemade devices for crushing or grinding the grain 
had to be resorted to. Cooking and baking were done on 
the open hearth. Modern kitchen conveniences, kitchen¬ 
ettes and kitchen cabinets were not thought of. 


The available means of mental improvement 
prior to the establishment of the county were 
the few books brought by immigrants from the 
fatherland, elementary schools, a few libra¬ 
ries, an occasional debating club, community singing 
schools, ornamental illuminated pen work, primitive and 


Means 

of 

Education 



MANUSCRIPT VOLUMES. TRANSCRIBED AND BOUND IN MONT¬ 
GOMERY COUNTY 

diminutive newspapers, books published in the colony. 
Among the obstacles to a good education were: the neces¬ 
sary struggle for a living, the sparseness of population, 
the scarcity of good teachers and text-books, the absence 
of a system of general public education, the low valuation 






54 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


placed on education, the quenching of zeal for higher 
things in general by the lower. In most cases church¬ 
building and schoolhouse grew up side by side, the latter 
in many cases even antedating the former. The school- 
houses, many octagonal in shape, had homemade desks 
ranged along the walls; high backless benches from which 
dangled the legs of the rising generation; a large wood- 
stove centrally placed, roasting those close by and letting 
others shiver; pens carved from quills; ink made of soot 
or pokeberries; the Bible as the great text-book; neither 
slates nor supervisors. Those financially able paid the 
tuition of their own children, the township that of the 
poor families. In some cases children, insufficiently 
fed or clothed, came from humble hovels, four, five miles 
through pathless woods or drifted snow to learn their 
A, B, C’s side by side with men old enough to be their 
fathers. Some of the teachers knew little more than the 
pupils; others were the local ministers, university-bred 
men. What it meant to be a teacher then in at least some 
cases is shown by what was expected in 1750 of the 
teacher of the Trappe school. He was to be examined in 
reading, writing, arithmetic, organ playing, English, 
Christian doctrine, and conduct, and was to enter the 
names of the children in the church records. He was to 
receive annually per child one dollar and half a bushel of 
grain, in addition also two annual church collections, and 
to enjoy free dwelling in the schoolhouse and the use of a 
piece of land. 


The trite saying, the farmer feeds the world, 
forever true, is forcibly illustrated in the lives 
of all early backwoodsmen whose primary 
life purpose had to be to provide food and 
clothing for themselves and their families. Farming 
was then and there the great fundamental industry. 


Early 

Indus¬ 

tries 


EARLY INDUSTRIES 


55 


All the learning of the professor who regretted that 
he had not spent his life in studying the dative case 
would not have saved him from hunger and nakedness. 
Before the growth of population made specialization of 
work possible the saying, “root, hog, or die,” held true. 
To raise food crops in virgin soil without plow, harrow 
or wagon was a problem many had to solve. Plows with 
wooden mouldboards, harrows with wooden teeth, wag¬ 
ons with wheels of three-inch plank sawed from the 
end of a log, harness made mainly of straw and raw- 
hide, thrashing and winnowing floors of well-packed 
soil, storage bins on the garret of log-built dwelling 
houses, taking a bag of grain for flour to the mill five 
or ten or fifteen miles away, the many necessary pro¬ 
cesses to transform the flax or wool into clothing, bed¬ 
ding or grain bags were familiar sights all over the 
county in early days. Some of these processes lingered 
long into the nineteenth century. To trace the infancy, 
growth, decay and disappearance of industries would 
require volumes. That they did spring up early is 
shown by the following list of articles exported from 
the port of Philadelphia fifty years after its founding, 
many of which must have been products of the county: 
Wheat, Indian corn, flour, tobacco, hemp, flax, oats, rye, 
linseed, buckwheat, rice, oil, beef, pork, bacon, fish, 
butter, sugar, molasses, wine, rum, salt, cheese, cider, 
lard, tallow, soap, candles, indigo, ginger, beeswax, 
starch, beer, pig iron, staves, hoops, headings, shingles, 
tar, pitch, turpentine, copper ore, skins and furs, potash, 
leather, bricks, marble, old iron, cedar, oak, and walnut 
timber. These in turn implied machinery, utensils, ap¬ 
pliances and operations. 

In addition other trades and industries flourished. 
Potters were making pots, plates, dishes, jugs, basins, 


56 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 



i ■ fern ■:*%'! 

Site 


WM; 








HMK 


:i.:‘ I' 






HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS 











EARLY INDUSTRIES 


57 


toys, what not—the tulip ware that brings fancy prices 
nowadays. Ministers even operated stills, sold whisky, 
and employed slaves to increase their riches. As an in¬ 
dustrial accompaniment, the holding of negroes and 
Indians in slavery, sanctioned and even enforced by 
the British government, early gained foothold in the 
county. Governor Keith at death owned seventeen slaves. 
Slaves toiled at the Greenlane Iron Works from its be¬ 
ginning to about 1775. At the same time members of 
Plymouth Meeting held seventeen slaves. Rev. George 
Michael Weiss held a slave negro family of ten, ranging 
in age from 44 to 4 years, valued by appraisers at £280 
or about $750, the price of a cheap auto. There were in 
the county 108 slaves in 1785, 114 in 1790, 33 in 1800, 
3 in 1810, 1 in 1830. 


Montgomery county has always had its road 
question, the improvement of roads, shadow¬ 
like, following without overtaking industrial 
development. To open roads at one time 


Roads 

and 

Inns 


meant to cut and clear Indian trails of trees, blackberry 
and hazel bushes, scruboak, weeds and thorns, to remove 
stumps and rocks in order that carts and wagons instead 
of pack horses might pass along. Some roads were used 
many years “upon sufferance’’ or without due legal pro¬ 
ceedings, to be closed by fences perchance without any no¬ 
tice from the landowner to the great disgust and incon¬ 
venience of the traveling public. Roads were often laid 
out along boundary lines between adjoining farms, each 
farm giving a part of the six per cent allowance for 
roads in the land patent granted. Opening of roads un¬ 
der direct court supervision occasionally led to contro¬ 
versy and ill-feeling among neighbors. Prior to the turn¬ 
pike era parts of even the leading roads were often in an 
almost impassable condition because of streams, stones, 


58 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


stumps and sloughs. Horses, dragging bodies and bur¬ 
dens through knee-deep mud, snailed along two or three 
miles an hour. Even Philadelphia was so often miry, 
carts were so often stalled that it had the nickname, 
“filthy-dirty.” Some roads like the later Lancaster turn¬ 
pike grew into noted national institutions. The history 
of some roads is marked by periods like these: the vir¬ 
gin forest, the Indian trail, the packhorse path marked 
by blazed trees, the narrow uncertain cartway, the vil¬ 
lage street, the macadamized town highway, and the con¬ 
creted city street, teeming with pedestrians, autos, rush¬ 
ing electric cars, smooth enough to tempt dancers and 
roller skaters, and firm enough to bear the monstrous and 
ponderous freight trucks. On account of the miry condi¬ 
tion of what has long been known as Germantown Ave¬ 
nue large country stores sprang up in Germantown, 
where the Upper End farmers could exchange their 
grain, butter and eggs, cured beef and hams, and other 
produce for fish, plaster, seeds, and general store goods 
for the rural merchant. A better avenue caused the de¬ 
cay of these stores. 

Inns, springing up as soon as the traffic along the 
most frequented roads assured adequate income, became 
with the jolly innkeeper in time almost indispensable in 
pioneer communities. Inn and storeroom were often 
found under the same roof mutually promoting each 
other’s business. The proprietor might at the same time 
also be the country squire and scrivener. Here the neigh¬ 
bors met to buy household necessities, and, sitting on dry- 
goods boxes, discussed the great questions of the day. 

Stagecoaches would make a brief stop, Conestoga wagons 
would park for the night and drovers would pen their 
cattle for a needed rest. Travelers could tell of inns that 
had bugs and dirty attendants, but gave neither candles 


ROADS AND INNS 


59 


nor sleep. Inns had their gaudily painted swinging sign- 
boaids, cieaking dolefully on high posts, bearing names 
like Waggon, Wagon and Horse, Black Horse, Sorrel 
Horse, White Horse, Red Lion, Bird-in-Hand, The Stag, 
Fox Chase, King-of-Prussia, The Trooper, Rising Sun, 
Blue Bell, Wheel Pump, Square and Compass, Seven 
Stars, Blue Anchor, The Rose, Barley Sheaf, New Moon, 
Yellow Ball, Crooked Billet, and Broad Axe. Paintings 
appropriate to the name graced the signboard, which 
gave names to later villages and postoffices. 



CONESTOGA WAGON, LANCASTER, PA. ABOUT 1910 


The Life 
on the 
Road 


A y 

These country roads and inns together wit¬ 
nessed an ever-changing, unceasing ebb and 
flow of human life quite different from that 
of today—farmers and farmers’ wives going 
to market with their produce securely anchored on pack 
horses; monstrous charcoal wagons; loads of powder, 
iron, iron ore, lumber, cordwood; dealers in live stock 
driving along their herd of cattle, horses, swine, sheep 
or geese; bride and groom on the way to the country par¬ 
son, riding on horses side by side or even tandem on the 
same horse; young and old, male and female, gay and 
grave, each on some mission bent, walking along. A 




GO 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


winding string of springless Conestoga wagons, some 
with buxom lasses bobbing about on the springy seat city¬ 
ward bound to visit their cousins, to see the sights, and 
do the family shopping, would draw up to the friendly 
wayside inn. Quickly the wagons are parked, the horses 
stabled and fed; later the barrooms become overcrowded 
with mattresses, coverlets and robes of the wagoners who 
play tricks, rehearse stale stories, or snore a hallelu¬ 
jah chorus, anxious to resume their journey on the mor¬ 
row. Possibly a distant rumble or the tooting of a horn 
would announce the approaching stagecoach laden with 
weary, dust-begrimed passengers. Soon the briskly trot- 



AMERICAN STAGE WAGON, ABOUT THE YEAR 1800, AND THE 
“SPREAD EAGLE INN” ON THE LANCASTER PIKE 


ting teams halt in front of the regular stopping and ex¬ 
change inn; passengers alight to relieve their limbs, the 
driver crawls down from his high seat, hostlers hustle 
the foaming horses away to make room for fresh ones, 
drivers and passengers resume their places, the whip is 







THE LIFE ON THE ROAD 


61 


Playing 

the 

Lottery 


cracked and stage with passengers disappears at the 
bend of the road. 

The great Nazarene Teacher taught that one 
ought to give expecting nothing in return. 
Men in pioneer days, as in our day, tried to 
get, giving nothing in return. The lottery 
was one of the ways of doing this. In 1735 the proprie¬ 
tors of the province proposed to sell 100,000 acres of land 
by lottery at £2 per acre. Of the 7750 tickets, 1293 were 
to get the land and 6457 were to be blank. In 1759 a law 
was passed declaring all lotteries whatsoever, whether 
public or private, “common and public nuisances and 
against the common good and welfare,” and providing 
fines. In 1765, only six year later, the same authority, 
“desirous of aiding and encouraging such charitable and 
pious designs,” passed a law providing lotteries for 
churches in the cities of Philadelphia, Carlisle, York, 
Reading and in other places. In subsequent years other 
churches were similarly favored. The erection of school 
buildings, the improvement of roads, the navigation of 
the Schuylkill river, the bridging of streams and the con¬ 
struction of piers to secure river banks were promoted 
by like legislation. Some of these were in Montgomery 
county. It is easy to imagine how prevalent the lottery 
spirit was when legislators and church fathers gave their 
sanction to the public lottery, and how many other games 
of chance must have received like countenance from the 
community. 

The pioneer as citizen had varied duties and 
privileges; some of these being local were dis¬ 
posed of without leaving home. Legal busi¬ 
ness, trials of criminals, settlement of es¬ 
tates, recording of deeds and mortgages had to be at¬ 
tended to at the county seat, Philadelphia. The primi- 


Pioneers 

as 

Citizens 


62 


EARLY LIFE ANI) ACTIVITIES 


tive court house stood in the middle of the main street, 
Market, at Second street, where at first the town bell 
swinging on a high mast announced the important 
events. The basement as auction room was reserved 
for millers, weavers, and stocking makers. Close by 
stood the public pillory and prison cage, westward the 
market house. On the east side was the conspicuous, 
historic stairway. Upstairs was the court room and 
voting place. Here for many years Montgomery 
county voters ascended the steps on the north side, cast 
their ballots and descended on the south side. At one 
time the wave of faction ran so high that sailors and 
coopers rough-housed the rural voters for control of 
the stairway and thus of the election—an act that led 
to arrest and court trial. From these same steps gov¬ 
ernors spoke, politicians harangued, ministers preached. 
Later the elections were held at the State House, Sixth 
and Chestnut streets. 

Much community business of a legal nature was 
disposed of by the country squire. David Schultz, an 
Upper End surveyor, conveyancer and general business 
and utility man, in his almanac diaries speaks of plowing, 
sowing, reaping, thrashing, sheep shearing, butchering, 
hauling wheat to market, applebutter boiling, flaxbrak¬ 
ing, hauling logs, erecting stables, building fences, dig¬ 
ging wells; surveying roads, farms and townships; neigh¬ 
bors moving to Maryland or the Carolinas; quit-rents and 
ejectments; agreements, wills, bonds and letters written; 
settling estates and adjusting disputes; rains, snows and 
thunder storms; things interesting and instructive in 
foreign lands; wars and rumors of wars; Indian 
troubles, murders and massacres; comets seen; the mean¬ 
ing of the Indian terms: the death of a rag col¬ 
lector; attending elections in Philadelphia, etc. A few 


PIONEERS AS CITIZENS 


63 


of the many strange and unusual laws and regulations 
that faced citizens of the county in early days were: 
punishment by public beating on the bare back, marking 
the poor on the shoulder, imprisonment for debt, auc¬ 
tioning the care of poor annually to the lowest bidder, im¬ 
port duty on slaves, the public pillory, punishing coun¬ 
terfeiting by cutting off the ears. 


At Home 
and 

at Play 
thus: 


A glimpse into the home and home life of 
common, well-established families, pioneer 
days being ended, may be of interest and 
profit. Rev. Mr. Doddridge pictures things 


“These original settlers had to be their own 
mechanics, for all which they needed. The hom- 
mony block and hand-mills were found in most of 
their houses. The block was hollowed out at top by 
burning, and the play of the pestle ground the 
corn. Sometimes they used the sweep of sixteen 
feet to lessen the toil, in pounding corn into meal 
for cakes and mush. At some places where they 
had saltpeter caves, they made their own gun¬ 
powder by means of these sweeps and mortars. In 
making meal they also used a domestic contrivance 
called a grater; it was a plate of roughly per¬ 
forated tin, on which they grated their grain. The 
hand-mill was another and a better contrivance, 
made with two circular stones, the under one be¬ 
ing the bedstone, and the upper one the runner. 
These were placed to run in a wide hoop or band 
with a spout for discharging the meal. The run¬ 
ner was moved by a staff passed through an up¬ 
right affixed in the runner.” 

Another interesting picture is thus portrayed by the 
late Rev. J. F. J. Schantz: 


64 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


“It was not difficult to make an inventory of 
the contents of the dwelling house. The large hall 
had but little furniture besides a long wooden 
chest, and a few benches or chairs. The best room 
of the house on one side of the hall contained a 
table, benches and later chairs, a desk with 
drawers, and the utensils used on the special 
hearth in heating the room. In the rear of the 
best room was the Rammer (bedroom) with its 
bed of plain make, also the trundle bed for younger 
children and a cradle for the youngest, a bench or 
a few chairs and the chest of drawers. The room 



CRADLE, ROCKER, ETC., MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

on the other side of the hall was often not divided, 
but when divided the front room was called the 
living room, with table and benches or plain 
chairs, with closet for queensware and the storage 
of precious parcels, with the spinning wheel, with 
a clock as soon as the family could possess one, 
and with shelving for the books brought from the 





AT HOME AND AT PLAY 


65 


fatherland or secured in this country. The kitchen 
contained the large hearth, often very large, with 
rods fastened to a beam and later an iron bar, 
from which descended chains to hold large kettles 
and pots used in the preparation of food; the tri¬ 
pod also on the hearth to hold kettles and pans 
used daily by the faithful housewife; the large 
dining table with benches on two long sides and 
short benches or chairs at each end; the large table 
for the use of those who prepared meals for the 
family; extensive shelving for holding tin and 
other ware; benches for water buckets and other 
vessels and the long and deep mantel shelf above 
the hearth on which many articles were placed. 
The second story contained bedrooms, beds, tables, 
chests.” 

Clocks and watches were rare and large. The good 
housewife or hired girl gave a welcome musical call for 
dinner on a yard-long tin horn or on the curiously-shaped 
conchshell, while the faithful dog whined a sad accom¬ 
paniment. If the plowman failed to hear the notice the 
weary horses did and whinnied in joy. Newspapers were 
small, stale and slow in coming. The few advertisements 
would tell, among other things, of stray cattle, runaway 
slaves, of Germans for sale and of faithless redemp- 
tioners. Each colony had its own money and money valu¬ 
ation for the English pound. Although Pennsylvania de¬ 
vised a safe paper currency, barter was often conducted 
in terms of bushels of wheat. To go visiting meant a long 
tramp, or painful horseback ride, or a tedious bouncing 
around on springless Conestogas. Happily the boys did 
not have to go to the post office for big sister’s love letters, 
for there were no post offices. Chickens roosted on the 
trees, the year round, boughs bending under their weight, 


66 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


the faithful dog keeping watch. Mothers and daughters 
made the spinning wheels hum to finish the winter task 
by Candlemas, when spinning was to cease and supper 
was to be served by daylight. Father as weaver made the 
busy shuttle fly back and forth. Young branded cattle 
ran wild in the woods, revealing their whereabouts by 
the tinkling of the bell suspended from the neck. The 
smoke lazily curling over the treetops showed where the 
woodman was converting wood into charcoal. Even then 
some saintly fathers grieved over the hurry and bustle of 



TOOLS OF FLAX INDUSTRY, MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY 

COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 


the times consuming strength of soul and body. What 
would they say of the present-day hustling? Seven- 
foot snows fell, reaching the eaves of the loghouses. In 
some cases correspondence with the relatives and friends 
in the homeland was kept up, forty, fifty years after the 








AT HOME AND AT PLAY 


67 


migration, twenty or thirty letters going forward in one 
package. When vessels arrived people went aboard for 
mail. Letters undelivered were taken to a public place, 
the Coffee House, where they would be called for. 

Strong liquor was drunk at public sales, at weddings 
and funerals, in haymaking, in harvest fields and wher¬ 
ever else the work was strenuous and it even found its 
way into toasted bread. If drunkenness resulted, long 
forgotten terms were applied to the unfortunate one. 

Want of space forbids our lingering on the marriage 
revelries and funeral feasts, on butchering and soap-mak¬ 
ing, on applebutter, corn-husking, sleighing and dancing 
parties, on horse racing, cock-fighting, bull baiting, bear 
baiting, of slack-rope and tight-rope dancing, of games 
of fortune, of the visits of the cobbler, tailor and school 
teacher, and the bundle-burdened peddler, of mother’s 
household remedies and the garnered medicinal plants in 
the garret, of the fabled witches and ghosts, of the super¬ 
stitions and charms as implicity believed in as the Good 
Book itself, of St. Nicholas, and New Year’s shooters. 


The 

Religious 

Life 


The persecutions in the fatherland which 
made the emigrant seek a new home had pro¬ 
duced a strong religious faith. The offer of 
religious liberty in addition induced persons 
of the most varied faiths to seek asylum in Penn’s colony. 
The result was that a condition peculiar to Pennsyl¬ 
vania was developed which has meant a great deal in 
the religious world. One writer, dwelling on this, says: 
“Colonial Pennsylvania, where Penn’s inviolable guar¬ 
antees of boundless liberty of conscience brought to¬ 
gether an aggregation of fanatic and fantastic char¬ 
acters which converted his fair colony into a religious 
wilderness, where zealots of every description charged 
themselves with the task of further devastation and dis- 


68 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


order” (E. J. Wolf). In spite of these seeming disad¬ 
vantages Montgomery county in conjunction with other 
counties similarly situated demonstrated to the world 
that religious liberty could not only be believed, but also 
be lived; that it was not a matter of mere toleration or 
theory, but of inherent, inalienable right. The lives 
here lived helped to demonstrate to the world the beauty 
of religious liberty, and furnished the unanswerable 
argument that religious liberty should be made a part 
of the constitution of the United States, and this was 
brought about under unfavorable conditions. The daily 
toil for food, raiment and shelter, the free life of the 
backwoods, the want of earnest Christian ministers 
caused decay and death of faith. It is of record that 
there were righteous souls among the pioneers who, be¬ 
ing concerned for the welfare of God’s spiritual king¬ 
dom, sent to their old homes earnest pleas for righteous 
preachers, saintly prayer books, catechisms and A, B, C 
books. Occasionally preachers were in the pulpits who 
should have been in jail. Of certain ministers it was said 
one seeks souls, another the crowd, the third bread, the 
fourth a wife. The pulpit language in German com¬ 
munities was termed by one man “a miserable, broken, 
fustian Salmagundy of English and German.” In Luth¬ 
eran churches alone half a hundred different catechisms 
and hymn books were in use. Church organs and 
stained-glass windows were a rare luxury. Muhlen¬ 
berg reported early in his ministry that within five 
years half of the membership of his churches had been 
taken away by death or removal to the frontier in Penn¬ 
sylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The minister’s pay 
was not always in coin of the realm. One of these 
saintly, hard-working pastors wrote: “One man brings 
me a sausage, another a piece of meat, a third a chicken, 


THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 


69 


a fourth a loaf of bread, a fifth some pigeons, a sixth 
a rabbit, a seventh some eggs, an eighth some tea and 
sugai, a ninth some honey, a tenth some apples, an 
eleventh some partridges, etc.” The early church 
fathers of necessity led a very strenuous life, traveling 
under exacting conditions over very wide stretches of 
sparsely-settled country, founding churches, teaching 
the children, educating the oncoming ministry of young 
men, adjusting disputes, setting the erring aright, while 
ministering as well to the wants of the body. Some car¬ 
ried with them medicines and the lancet, and knew many 



NORRITON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

of housewife’s home remedies, thus anticipating the 
modern medical missionary. 

The early church buildings were rudely constructed 
of unhewn logs, with backless, uncomfortable seats of 







70 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


puncheons, floor of the native soil or brick, without 
stoves, carpets, or cushions, organ or piano; sometimes 
even without a roof, because of poverty of the member¬ 
ship. One reads of bats dropping on the worshippers’ 
heads, and of snakes looking on from chinks in the 
church wall. Under more favorable conditions churches 
were built of stone, seats had high, straight backs, with 
doors at the end of the pews, galleries on three sides 



PULPIT AND PEW, LUTHERAN 
CHURCH, TRAPPE 


with uncomfortable seats, increasing the capacity of the 
church. Here the young men sat to keep an eye on the 
young ladies, who on the opposite side on the main floor, 
worshipped God and watched the boys. Two square 
blocks of pews at each side faced the goblet-shaped pulpit, 
which was hardly wide enough to hold a pot-bellied 








THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 


71 


pastor, and which was supplied with sounding board a 
few feet over the head of the preacher, who entered by 
a narrow spiral stairway. The story is told that at one 
time a minister with goblet and gospel tumbled to the 
floor, upon which he expressed himself in Pennsylvania- 
German, “There lies your old rattle-box” (rabbelkaste). 
In the absence of church buildings services were held in 
the school house, in barns, or under wide-spreading trees. 
Going to church meant putting on clean homemade 
clothes, threading one’s way past thorns, weeds and un¬ 
derbrush of the primeval forest, wading streams, edging 
along the dusty or muddy roads, some carrying their 
shoes to save the sole until the building was sighted; 
some, both men and women, without shoes and all with¬ 
out umbrellas, rubber overcoats or overshoes. Hus¬ 
band and wife at times came mounted tandem on the 
faithful plowhorse. If the worshippers came to church 
too soon, or the preacher too late, men might be seen 
sitting on the fences or welcome benches, whittling, 
chewing and discussing the weather, the crops, stale 
European news or the political situation, often serious 
and trying. Thanks to the peace principles of Penn, the 
pious pioneers did not stack their guns beside the church 
door to save their souls to this world while preparing to 
go to the next, preferring to send their neighbors instead. 
In winter time the worshippers came in their rude 
sleighs, bringing heated planks, or sandbags or foot- 
warmers bought in the city to keep their feet from freez¬ 
ing while their souls were being warmed up in the un¬ 
heated building. Fires were built outside the church 
building to warm worshippers. When no church services 
were held pious parents would conduct family worship. 
Father, mother, children, hired help would meet, hymns 
were sung, postils read, prayers repeated, while the young 
wished for the ending of the services when they would 


72 


EARLY LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 


be allowed quillpen and pokeroot ink to copy in imitation 
of the teacher’s illuminated ornamented penwork re¬ 
ligious sentiments, or design impossible animals with 
equally impossible colors. 

Pondering things like these pertaining to the early 
life of the county one may ask the question when and 
where were the good old times the fathers suggest? 



OLD IRONSIDES 
Locomotive built by Baldwin, 1832 





CHAPTER V 

THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTY 


Four We have seen how Montgomery, as part of 

Groups the parent county, Philadelphia, was acquired, 
of Data settled, and developed. A study of its erec¬ 
tion and growth as a separate county is the 
object of this chapter. The historical data will be 
grouped under four subheads: The Turnpike Period, 
1784 to 1814, the close of the second war with Great 
Britain; the Canal Period, 1815 to 1847, the close of the 
Mexican War; the Railway Period, 1848 to 1884, the 
completion of a century of county history; the State 
Highway Period, 1885 to the present. 

The means of communication are a fair test of the 
business and social advancement of a county. Distinct 
periods of expansion in the county's progress are indi¬ 
cated by the building of turnpikes, railways, and State 
highways. These improvements, though originally op¬ 
posed by some men, were demanded by the growing 
business and social activities of the community and in 
turn fostered them and proved themselves indis¬ 
pensable. 


17 8 U 
to 

18U 


The distance to the county seat where alone 
certain classes of business could be trans¬ 
acted, the steady growth of population, 
and the proper adjustment of taxation 
were among the causes that induced the people of the 
upper end of Philadelphia county to petition Assembly 
a few years prior to 1784 for the erection of a new 
county. About the same time a movement was started to 
secure the establishment of a county out of parts of Berks, 
Chester, and Philadelphia counties, with the county seat 


74 


FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 


at Pottstown. Like unsuccessful efforts were made a num¬ 
ber of times afterwards. The act establishing Mont¬ 
gomery county was passed, after several years of skir¬ 
mishing and discussion, September 10, 1784. Soon 
thereafter the county machinery was set in motion; 
gradual and healthy growth has been the good fortune 
of the county ever since. The first Court, an Or¬ 
phans’ Court, was held at Trappe, December 1st, 
1784. The first regular Court of Quarter Sessions was 
held at the house of John Shannon, December 28th, 

1784, the location of whose residence has been ques¬ 
tioned by writers. The first Court House and Prison in 
Norristown were erected 1787. The Court House on the 
public square faced Main street; the Prison stood where 
the present Court House is located. The county was orig¬ 
inally subdivided into three election districts which 
during this period became thirteen. 

The great amount of traffic to and from the fron¬ 
tier and the adjacent counties, centering in Philadel¬ 
phia and radiating in part over Montgomery county, 
necessitated the building of substantial roads. The first 
charter for a toll or turnpike road in the United States 
was issued in Virginia, 1772, although the first road 
building under this charter was not undertaken until 

1785. The first turnpike road in Pennsylvania was 
built from Philadelphia to Lancaster, crossing the 
southeastern part of Montgomery county. This was 
completed in 1796 at a cost of $7,500 a mile—$13,000 
according to one authority. Other county turnpikes of 
the period were the ones to Collegeville (including the 
building of the Perkiomen Bridge), Willow Grove, 
Springhouse, and Bethlehem. In constructing these, 
old roadbeds, confirmed many years previously, were 


1784 TO 1814 


75 


in most cases made use of. In some instances the road 
was relocated and the grade changed. 

Bridges across the Schuylkill were built in 1810 at 
Pawling’s (now Perkiomen Junction) and Flatrock. 
The latter was swept away by a freshet in 1824 and re¬ 
built. Swept away again in 1850, it was not rebuilt. 



PERKIOMEN BRIDGE, COLLEGEVILLE 

Canals that had been suggested by William Penn 
himself and had been under consideration for some 
time past received increased attention during this 
period. In 1792 an act was passed by the Legislature 
authorizing a canal from Norristown to Philadelphia. 
Money was raised, excavations were made, but the 
enterprise ended in failure. In 1791 a company had 
been chartered to connect the Schuylkill and Susque¬ 
hanna rivers by canal and slackwater navigation. 





















76 


FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 


These two companies were united in 1811 as the Union 
Canal company by whom the canal was finally built. 

The county saw the establishment of the carriage 
works at Hatboro and the opening of the copper mines 
at Shannonville (Audubon of to-day) that gave em¬ 
ployment to 200 men in 1852. These mines were finally 
abandoned six years later. Lumbermen organized a 



“THE TOWN OF NORRIS” AS IT APPEARED ABOUT 1835 


trust in 1810 to regulate the price of lumber, which was 
discontinued in 1824. The Bank of Montgomery County, 
the first in the county, was chartered in 1814. Farm¬ 
ers continued to do some of their marketing on horse¬ 
back in Norristown. Flour varied in price from twelve 
dollars a barrel in 1796 to four dollars a barrel in 1821. 
In 1795 the county had 96 gristmills, 61 sawmills, 4 
forges, 6 fullingmills, and 10 papermills. The county 
acquired in 1806 a farm of 265 acres in Upper Provi¬ 
dence and established a county home for the poor, 
thus changing its method of providing for the poor by 













1784 TO 1814 


77 


farming them out, township by township, for care and 
keep to the lowest bidder. 

Academies were established in Moreland (Loller 
Academy), in Lower Merion (Lower Merion Academy), 
Upper Merion (Union School), and in Upper Hanover 
(Hosensack Academy). Loller Academy was the thirty- 
fifth academy chartered by the State since its forma¬ 
tion. A library was organized in Abington, 1803, that 
was incorporated three years later. The Whitpain Li¬ 
brary Association was incorporated in 1818. On the last 
Saturday of 1922 its sole surviving member conveyed 
the library to the Whitpain High School and Alumni 
Association. The Pottstown Library Association was 
incorporated in 1810. 

The first post-office within the county was estab¬ 
lished, 1793, at Pottstown. Three years later there 
were only thirty-three post-offices within the entire 
State. In 1799 the Norristown post-office published a 
list of letters held for persons residing, among other 
places, in Montgomery, Moreland, Lower Merion, Hors¬ 
ham, and Upper Merion townships. By the end of the 
period the following places enjoyed the honor and con¬ 
venience of having post-offices: Hatboro, Horsham, 
Jenkintown, Norristown, Pottsgrove, Sumneytown, 
Swamp Churches, Whitemarsh, Willow Grove and 
Trappe. Two newspapers made their appearance at 
Norristown during this period, The Herald, 1799, and 
The Register, 1800. Norristown as the county seat 
enjoyed a healthy growth. In 1795 it had ten buildings, 
including a jail, a court house, three inns, and a few 
farmhouses. By 1812 it was ready to become a borough, 
less than forty years after the decision was made to 
locate the county seat in Norriton township. 


78 


FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 


1815 

to 

1857 


The growth of population is shown by the 
steady increase of the number of election dis¬ 
tricts, new ones becoming necessary almost 
every year. The number of post-offices in¬ 
creased from eleven in 1819 to twenty-nine in 1832, and 
fifty-nine in 1851. Frederick township had its first post- 
office in 1837. The Merions, rich and populous to-day, 
did not enjoy local post office privileges before 1830. The 
postage rates for single letters, payable by the recipient, 
ranged from eight to twenty-five cents, depending on the 
distance. 


Increased attention was paid to roads and bridges. 
A State road was laid out in 1830 from New Hope on 
the Delaware, across the county to the Maryland line, 
embodying DeKalb street, Norristown, as part of the 
road. Turnpike roads were completed as follows: 
Doylestown and Willow Grove, 1840; Sumneytown and 
Springhouse, 1848; Gravel Pike, Zieglerville to Green- 
lane, 1849; Old York Road, 1850. Bridges were built 
over the Schuylkill at Pottstown, 1819; at Norristown, 
1829; at Conshohocken, 1833; over the Perkiomen at 
Perkiomenville, and over the Wissahickon in Gwynedd 
township in 1839. 

Transportation by canal was greatly developed 
during this period. The canal from Reading to Phila¬ 
delphia was formally opened July 4, 1824. Passenger 
boats from Philadelphia reached Norristown in 1822 
and Reading in 1826. Forty boats loaded with coal 
passed through Norristown in one day in 1825. In 1830, 
81,000 tons of coal were conveyed by boat. Reading 
shipped by canal in one day 1,201 barrels of flour, 1,425 
bushels of wheat, 17 tons of iron, 149 gallons of whis¬ 
key, 365 pounds of butter, and 500 pounds of snuff. All 
this freight and passenger traffic made the canal and 


1784 TO 1814 


79 


towpaths fairly alive with boatmen, muledrivers, lock- 
tenders, coal arks, express passenger packet boats and 
passengers walking for a time to relieve their minds. The 
valleys re-echoed with the frequent, long-drawn tooting 
of the boatman’s horn announcing to the locktender his 
near approach. 

People had to be educated to the use of coal. Its 
introduction for domestic use was slow, and the cheap 
coal meant new industries along the line of the canal. 
In Norristown, McCreedy’s Mill, the DeKalb Street 
Mill, Eagle Works, Derr’s Marble Works, Hooven’s Iron 
Mills, and in Conshohocken, Harry’s Grist Mill and 
Wood’s Rolling-mill began business during this period, 
depending more or less directly on the canal and the 
coal. The canal business was so brisk that increased 
capacity became necessary and the canal was conse¬ 
quently enlarged to accommodate greater boats. During 
the rebuilding period three hundred boats are said to 
have been tied up in the Port Kennedy dam at one time. 



THE FIRST STEAM RAILROAD PASSENGER TRAIN IN AMERICA, 1831 

A forceful argument and compelling motive for the 
digging of trans-State canals and a little later the build¬ 
ing of railroads was the Susquehanna river, whose wa¬ 
ters were carrying both products and riches from the 
State to Baltimore. To tap this traffic more effectively 







80 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 

a railroad was built from Philadelphia to Columbia 
which coursed a distance through Lower Merion. Rail¬ 
roads to Norristown and Reading were opened about 
the same time. The first rails, cars, and engines were, 
of course, primitive affairs. The rails did not resemble 
the massive T beams of present-day railroads. Instead, 
the track rested on stone blocks to which wooden rails 
were fastened that were protected by iron strips laid 
along the upper surface. For a time certain trains 
rendered service only in fair weather. It is related that 



LOCOMOTIVE BUILT. 1914. BY BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS; 

WEIGHT 425 TONS, HORSEPOWER, MORE THAN 4000 

at one of the formal openings, a great time of rejoicing 
and jubilee, nine passenger coaches were put to use 
that looked like the old stage coaches, twenty passen¬ 
gers within each, sixteen atop, the poor horse in shafts 
along the track as motive power. It is stated also that 
when one of these primitive trains stopped at a certain 
station the passengers on top walked a plank to the 
second story porch roof of a house along the track and 
thus got down to solid ground again after what must 
have seemed to them a most wonderful ride. 

Among the industries of the period may be men¬ 
tioned the silk industry, which for a time received wide- 





1815 TO 1847 


81 


spread attention, the grist, saw, oil, clover, powder, 
fulling mills, the tanneries and forges. The farmers 
whose business was the most important of the county 
sought to improve their condition by the establishment 
of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society. 

Norristown had, in 1818, one hundred houses, five 
lawyers, stovemakers, innkeepers, each; four teachers, 
carpenters and shoemakers, each; three physicians, 
butchers, blacksmiths, each; two hat factories, mer¬ 
chant mills, magistrates, printers, cabinetmakers, plas¬ 
terers, coopers, each; one woolen factory, pottery, tan¬ 
nery, church, academy, fire engine, clergyman, apothe¬ 
cary, watchmaker, mason, chair maker, saddler, milliner, 
barber, and stageline to Philadelphia. 

Pottstown, incorporated 1816, became a publication 
town by the establishment of a newspaper, The Times, 
1819. Hatboro began the publication of The Literary 
Chronicle, 1840. Sumneytown began the publication 
of The Bauern Freund, 1827. This paper was later ac¬ 
quired by The Pennsburg Democrat. 

Playing the lottery, in vogue before the establish¬ 
ment of the county, had developed into a craze. In 
1833 more than two hundred lottery offices were offer¬ 
ing over four hundred lottery schemes in Philadelphia, 
authorized by New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, which 
tempted buyers with prizes aggregating more than fifty- 
three million dollars. Montgomery county farmers, 
like other farmers, doubtless tried their luck. 

It was during this period that the State Free School 
system was introduced, a century and a half after 
William Penn as proprietor had made known his plans 
for universal education. Before this, the tuition of the 
children of the poor was free, but under such condi- 


82 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 

lions as to make free tuition a stigma or reproach to the 
beneficiaries. The system itself was its own worst ene¬ 
my. Out of 400,000 children in the State between the 
ages of five and fifteen, 150,000 did not get within a 
schoolhouse during a certain year, and a large propor¬ 
tion of the adult population could neither read nor 
write. Societies were organized in 1831 to promote the 
free school idea. The free school law was enacted by the 
Assembly of 1833-34. On the vote of adoption of the 
system by the county out of thirty-two districts only 
one voted in favor of adoption. In 1835, five hundred 
and eighty petitions signed by 31,989 citizens of the 
State asked the repeal of the law, but the law was 
allowed to stand. By 1839 eighty-four per cent of the 
school districts of the State had adopted the free 
school system, although in Montgomery county only 
thirty-four per cent, eleven districts out of thirty-four, 
had done so. By 1843, fifteen districts had accepted 
and there was in the State Treasury a credit of over 
$38,000 for the non-accepting districts, sums appropri¬ 
ated by the Legislature for their benefit. This credit 
with the threat that after a certain time it would revert 
to the general funds influenced the districts to accept 
the law. 

Early school expenses compared with the present 
were very low, as a study of statistics will show. Ac¬ 
cording to a school tax duplicate 140 citizens in a cer¬ 
tain district paid a school tax of $20.46, or at the rate 
of 141/2 cents each. Of these twenty-eight paid less than 
ten cents each. In 1831 the teacher’s salary in another 
district was two dollars per pupil for a term of seventy- 
two days. Of another district it is said that at times 
there was no school for two or three years until some 
wayfaring stranger came along and opened one. 


1848 TO 1884 


83 


About the time the free school system was adopt¬ 
ed, Pennsylvania had two universities, eight colleges, 
fifty academies that were receiving State aid. Within 
the county four academies were receiving such aid—at 
Hatboro, Norristown, Pottstown, and Sumneytown. 
During the period the following private schools were 
opened; Haverford College, 1832; Treemount Seminary, 
1844; Oakland Female Seminary, 1845; Freeland Semi¬ 
nary, 1845; Cottage Seminary, 1850. 


During this period great progress was 
made in various directions. It was also 
the period of the Civil War which meant so 
much for the county during and after the 
war which will be considered in another connection. 


181+8 

to 

1881 + 


Among the new private schools of the period may 
be mentioned the Hill School (1851), Oakland Female 
Institution (1845-1880), Pennsylvania Female College 
(1851-1875), the first American college established solely 
for women and authorized to bestow degrees, North 
Wales Academy (1867-1892), Perkiomen Seminary 
(1875), now Perkiomen School, Frederick Institute 
(1855-1877). 

The free school system became fully established 
in the county. The townships which had not yet adopted 
the system soon did so. In 1854 the office of county 
superintendent was created, which meant closer super¬ 
vision and greater efficiency of the schools. A county 
superintendent made this report: “It is no uncommon 
thing for scholars at sixteen in winter schools to be 
found going over and saying to the teacher precisely 
the same thing in principle that they went over and 
said at six.” In 1855 the county superintendent re¬ 
ported : “In many of the schools in these districts the 


84 


FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 



TYPES OF ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSES 
Ivy Rock, Plymouth Eight Square, 

Oak Grove, Hatfied St. James Episcopal, Lower 


Plymouth 

Providence 












1848 TO 1884 


85 


principal branches taught are orthography, reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, English grammar and geogra¬ 
phy not yet being taught in them to a very great extent 
and in a considerable number not at all.” The follow¬ 
ing year he reported long desks and benches without 
support to the back in a large number of districts. In 
1860 the same superintendent said: “Six years ago 
schools were in a loose and disjointed condition; now 
they are pervaded by a common life and have system 
and method.” During the Civil War many of the older 
and more experienced men teachers left the profession 
and women teachers took their places, against whom 
there was widespread objection. Institutes came into 
vogue about this time, but the attendance was optional 
and many of the teachers failed to attend. 1871 the 
superintendent dwelt on the increased salaries, the 
better houses and furniture, the lengthening of the 
school term, the increased number of graded schools. 
The late Superintendent R. F. Hoffecker in his first 
reports beginning in 1880 dwelt on the attention given 
to decorating the school rooms, examinations in un¬ 
graded schools, increased interest in apparatus and 
professional reading, free textbooks coming into use, 
of all but fourteen of the teachers attending institute. 

A new prison was built in 1851 and a new court 
house in 1852-54. 

The following turnpikes were either incorporated 
or opened in the years indicated: Whitemarsh and Ply¬ 
mouth, 1848; Limekiln, 1851; Greenlane and Goshen- 
hoppen, 1851; Norristown and King of Prussia, 1851; 
Plymouth and Upper Dublin, 1853; Norristown and 
Center Square, 1867; Penllyn and Blue Bell, 1867; 
Gwynedd and Blue Bell, 1867; Dublin and Souderton, 
1874; Telford and County Line, 1874; Lansdale and 


86 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 

Montgomery, 1874; Philadelphia, Bala and Bryn Mawr, 
1874. 

Steam railroad building was continued during the 
period, the following roads being opened in the years 
indicated: Chester Valley, 1853; North Penn, 1856; 
Perkiomen, 1875; North East Branch of Philadelphia 
and Reading, 3 872; Philadelphia and Newtown, 1872; 
Bound Brook, 1876; Stony Creek, 1875; Schuylkill 
Valley, 1884. 

Growth is shown by the establishment of these 
newspapers: 1857, The Democrat, Pennsburg, to which 
was added The Perkiomen Valley Press, 1874; 1858, a 
German newspaper made its appearance in Zieglerville; 
1870, The Reporter, Lansdale; 1875, The Independent, 
Collegeville; The Daily Register, Norristown; 1877, 
The Home News, Bryn Mawr; The Weekly Item, 
Schwenksville; 1878, The Independent, Souderton; 
1881, The Times, Norristown; 1883, The Gazette, Am¬ 
bler. The first daily county paper was The Daily 
Herald, established 1869. 

Among other evidences of progress of the county 
were: incorporation of Bridgeport, 1851; Royersford, 
1879; opening of Swedes Ford bridge, 1851; establish¬ 
ment of Norristown gasworks, 1852; recognition of 
women physicians. 

The operation of the underground railroad, orig¬ 
inated early in this period and ended by the Civil War, 
must not be overlooked. This was an effort to assist 
colored slaves to get away from their masters and 
secure their liberty by flight to Canada. Misunderstand¬ 
ing, personal abuses, and financial loss were the lot of 
those who assisted the slaves to escape. 

There were in 1852 in Montgomery county not less 
than 30 merchant, 120 grist, 76 lumber, 8 marble, 20 
paper, 12 clover and 12 (?) powder mills. Besides 


1848 to 1884 


87 


these there were 15 or more iron works of various kinds, 
25 large cotton factories, 10 woolen mills, 12 fulling 
mills, and 35 tanneries. In 1854 there were on the Per- 
kiomen creek below Greenlane 17 gristmills, 8 oilmills, 
6 sawmills, and 3 powdermills; and on the same creek 



SPINNING WITH SPINDLE AND SPINNING WHEEL 


with its branches above Greenlane, 10 sawmills, 14 
powdermills, 16 oilmills, in addition to furnaces, iron 
works and woolen mills. 

Blast furnaces and iron works were put up as fol¬ 
lows: 1843, Plymouth; 1846, Norristown and Potts- 
town; 1847, West Conshohocken; 1849, Stony Creek; 
1850, Swedeland; 1852, Pencoyd; 1854, William Penn 





88 


FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 


and Port Kennedy; 1863, Pottstown; 1867, Edge Hill; 
1869, Norristown; 1874, Glasgow; 1875, Pottstown; 
1881, Plymouth; 1884, Pottstown. 


It will be impracticable and inadvisable to 
attempt a listing of changes that have 
taken place within the county since 1884. 
Data on special features of the develop- 


1885 

to 

1923 


ment can be obtained without special effort. 

The following facts may serve as milestones in the 

progress of the public school system (taken from a 

paper prepared by Superintendent J. Horace Landis). 

1854, E. L. Acker appointed superintendent of schools 
at an annual salary of six hundred dollars. 

1855, Montgomery County Teachers’ Association organ¬ 
ized—became the Teachers’ Institute, 1868. 

1860, Rev. J. W. Cruikshank elected superintendent of 
schools at an annual salary of nine hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

1863, Abel Rambo elected superintendent of schools at an 
annual salary of eight hundred dollars, later in¬ 
creased to twelve hundred dollars. 

1871, Clergy, the bar and other friends of education 
invited to take part in the discussions at the 
county institutes. 

1878, R. F. Hoffecker elected superintendent of schools 
at an annual salary of twelve hundred dollars, 
later increased to twenty-five hundred dollars. 

1879, Local institutes introduced. 

1881, Lower Providence adopted a graded course of 
study. 

1882, First public school commencement held. 

1884, Cheltenham established a township high school. 

1887, Final abandonment of the A, B, C method of 

teaching reading. 


1885 to 1923 


89 



THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE COUNTY 
Robert Cruikshank Abel Ramba 

J. Horace Landis 

E. L. Acker R. F. Hoffecker 





90 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTY 

1888, Lower Providence held a public school exam¬ 
ination. 

1889, Montgomery County Directors’ Association 
formed. 

1890, First district superintendent appointed. Direc¬ 
tors’ Association recommended a minimum school 
term of eight months—made a state law, 1919. 

1891, Directors’ Association discussed township high 
schools and compulsory attendance. 

1893, Directors’ Association discussed graded courses 
of study. 

1903, Directors’ Association discussed the centraliza¬ 
tion of rural schools. 

1904, J. Horace Landis appointed superintendent of 
schools at an annual salary of twenty-five hun¬ 
dred dollars, later increased to five thousand dol¬ 
lars. Divided county institutes introduced, later 
made compulsory by law. 

1908, An outline of studies for an eight grade and a 
ten grade course issued by the superintendent. 
1913, A course of study for the county prepared. 

The county itself has spent over $800,000 in freeing 
turnpikes, only one toll road remaining. Improved 
roads have come to stay. The three election districts 
have become one hundred and fifty-two with prospect 
of a material increase in numbers. Instead of the lone 
post-office of 1793 there are considerably more than a 
hundred supplemented by more than half a hundred 
rural delivery routes. Nerves of steel crisscrossing the 
county annihilate space. Its private educational forces 
have been strengthened by the addition of Bryn Mawr 
College. Asylum and hospital service have been added 
to the county. 


1885 TO 1923 


91 


Half a score of years has passed since the county 
seat celebrated its centennial. The growth of the county 
business necessitated larger Court House quarters in 
1902 which are again too small. Trolley and bus service 
facilitate travel. The seventy-five public schools have 
become seventy-five dozen schools. Bicycles and auto¬ 
mobiles have compelled road betterment. Improved 
farm machinery and practice mark rural life. “Movies” 
-have come to while away dull care and long evenings. 
Agricultural communities are acquiring city conveni¬ 
ences. Manufacturing plants have sprung up all over 
the county bringing remunerative employment at home 
to the young. 



CONTINENTAL MONEY 






























































CHAPTER VI 

CHANGED HOME LIFE 


Modern 

Conveni¬ 

ences 


Were some mighty power to take away 
from Montgomery county the things that 
seem so essential to daily life which have 
come into existence since the erection of the 


county in 1784, it would leave house and home, barn and 
shop, street and field so bare and cheerless that men 
would feel that life was not worth living. At the begin¬ 
ning of the period news snailed along by horseback and 
stagecoach on narrow roads made almost impassable 
by dust and mud or rough, frozen ruts. To-day it flies 
at lightning speed and he who will may listen in. 
According to Watson, in 1800, people in Philadelphia, 
then the most populous and most advanced city in the 
United States, “were unacquainted with the use of 
carpets, sideboards, massive plate, gigs, barouches and 
coaches; they were satisfied with sanded floors, white¬ 
washed parlors and halls, rush chairs, plain chaises, 
corner chimneys, corner clocks and glass-door buffets 
and cupboards.” Although these, and unnumbered 
other things, are not products of Montgomery county, 
they have entered very vitally into the life of the county 
and helped to make it what it is. We can not know its 
history without knowing something about them. 

Before these things became part of life, “the era,” 
according to Professor Clark, “was one of uneconomi¬ 
cal methods of work, of undivided and localized produc¬ 
tion, of large profits and small sales, of high prices to 
society as a consumer, of little general wealth, but of 
comparative equality and contentment among the mid¬ 
dle class in the community.” 


DATE OF PATENTS 


93 


A chronological list of patents issued to 
inventors will help one to form an idea as 
to when certain improvements were made. 
It must be remembered, however, that in 
most cases many steps intervened between the first and 
final forms of patents as we know them. Among these 
patents may be mentioned: 1797, cast iron plow; 1803, 
steel pens; 1813, gas generator; 1816, manufacture of 
oilcloth; 1817, steam wagon; 1819, plow with adjust¬ 
able point and iron suspension bridges (in England) ; 
1822, flop-over horserakes; 1825, first passenger car and 
steam engine; 1830, hilling cultivator; 1833, slotted- 
guard fingers for mowers; 1840, magnetic telegraph; 
1843, composing machine and fountain pen; 1846, sew¬ 
ing machine; 1849, shoe machine and paperfolding ma¬ 
chine; 1850, cotton harvester; 1853, envelope machine; 
1855, haytedder; 1858, carpet sweeper and ice elevators; 
1859, ironframe school seats and desks; 1862, wash 
wringers; 1864, Bessemer steel; 1865, ice machines; 
1868, vacuum milking machines; 1869, washing ma¬ 
chines and springtooth harrow; 1870, hot air heaters; 
1873-1892, typewriters; 1875, vacuum airbrakes and 
self-feeding heaters; 1876, telephone, bicycle, and pas¬ 
senger elevators; 1880, electric railways; 1884, gang 
plow and quadruplex telegraphy; 1885, first electric 
street railways; 1891, “movie” apparatus; 1894, first 
gasoline-driven vehicle; 1895, Roentgen rays; 1902, 
aeroplanes. 


Date 

of 

Patents 


H. L. Fisher, in his “Olden Times; or, 
Th e Pennsylvania Rural Life, Some Fifty Years 

Changed Ago,” published in 1888, pictures the old 
Home home in these words: “We, almost trem¬ 

blingly, ask permission to enter the different apart¬ 
ments, in the vain hope of recognizing some familiar 


94 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


object, or hearing some familiar sound; we look in vain 
for the Bible and the Hymn book on the quaint old 
stand; or the cradle that rocked us in our infancy; we 
listen for the measured tick, tick, tick, or the silvery 
tones of the old clock, so full of mystery in the peaceful 
hours of life’s rosy dawn. And in their stead we find 
things new and strange; in the little back room, where 
our parents slept, and we first saw the light, we find 
a modern-styled bed in the place of the highposts and 
ample curtains; no Bible-stand, family Bible, nor hymn- 
book; and instead of the stately old time-piece, an in¬ 
significant mantleclock, as if running by steam, clicks 
and clacks, as if trying to make up for lost time. In the 
spacious, old sitting-room, where once we heard the 
music of the spinningwheels on the bare, sand-scoured 
floor, we find the flowery carpets, the melodeon, or the 
cottage organ. In the kitchen, that altar of our youth¬ 
ful sacrifices, where once glowed the cheerful wood-fire, 
in the long winter evenings, the great old chimneyplace 
closed and dark; and in its stead the modern cook-stove, 
heated, tamely, with filthy coal. On the garret we find 
no more hanks of flax, the rolls of wool, nor the bun¬ 
dles of fragrant herbs; but we do find the neglected and 
despised, cast-off, spinning-wheels, reels and winders 
hidden away, down in the darkness under the eaves of 
the roof, as if it were a virtue to show how much the 
children are ashamed of the homely works and ways of 
the parents. And so, in sadness, we go away, musing 
and half doubting whether the works and ways of the 
present are really better than those of the past.” 

A hundred years ago an observer described rural 
eastern Pennsylvania in these words: “The whole face 
of the country looks German—all speak that language, 
and but few can speak English. Almost all their houses 
are of squared logs neatly framed—of two stories high. 



THE CHANGED HOME 


95 


They look to the eye like ‘Wilmington stripes’ for the 
taste is to whitewash the smooth mortar between the 
logs but not the logs themselves, thus making the house 
in stripes of alternate white, and dusky wood color. . . . 
The barns were large and well filled, generally con¬ 
structed of squared logs or stone, but all the roofs 
were of thatched straw—a novelty to my eye—said to 
last fifteen years. Their houses were shingled with 
lapped shingles. Saw no stately or proud mansions, 
but all looked like able owners.” 

Watson, in notes written in 1856 when he 
was past eighty years of age, complains 
about the general clatter from the crowds 
of people and confusion along the streets, 
that there is no room to turn or look around, that the 
tall buildings overshadowing the old buildings are crowd¬ 
ed with numerous working tenants, that the former 
good houses are being displaced by newer and taller 
structures, that young married people without family 
must have their homes as large as their parents had, 
when full of children. “All go now on stilts.” Formerly 
none but real country farmers sold their products in 
the city markets, now the stalls are held by hucksters. 
Men willingly pay highest prices for table board, for 
carriages, for clothing for show and display in every¬ 
thing. Habits of luxury are gaining on our people from 
which we must be reformed or be ruined. 

Among the new things he saw were penny news¬ 
papers, the use of chloroform, ready-made clothing for 
gentlemen, express and omnibus service, slate roofs, 
building brick houses in winter, envelopes for letters, 
planing, jointing and grooving boards by steam power, 
advertising designs, flagstone paving, Belgian-block 
street paving, wholesale silk stores, pegging of boots 


The 

Changed 

Life 


96 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


and shoes, parcel delivery by stores, undertakers for 
funerals, professional singers in churches, imitation of 
grained wood. 



FOUR TYPES OF RURAL BRIDGES 


In another connection Watson says: “What won¬ 
derful things do we now behold, ‘not before dreamt of 

in our philosophy.’ Railroads—annihilating space_ 

Telegraphic wires conversing at unlimited distances_ 

Steamers traversing every Sea—Steam-Engines and 
power adapted to all kinds of manufactures—Inventions 




















THE CHANGED LIFE 


97 


of machinery (in the patent office) to supersede almost 
every kind of former labor—Stereotyping everything 
on paper—Daguerreotypes cheapening the likenesses of 
everybody. Chemical developments for the supply of 
everything required in the arts, and opening the arcana 
of nature to the use of all—ascertaining the elements of 
combinations in nature—and so separating the parts, 
as to show new sources of power and profit—forecast¬ 
ing the fact, that in time, Water may be used as a Fire. 
In the meantime, the ingenuity and devices of Crime, 
becoming more and more apparent—and compelling 
new efforts of counteraction from all those who regard 
the progress of Religion and Virtue in the world. We 
see too, the great exaltation of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
as a species destined to carry civilization and Christian¬ 
ity to all the dark corners of the globe—The conquest 
of Mexico by us—the opening trade of California and 
Oregon—the discovery of gold and quicksilver—the 
Commerce of the Pacific and the access there to China 
—the opening of a Railroad across the Isthmus, and a 
great Rail Road across our Continent, all tend to open 
some grand developments of Providence, in the coming 
half Century—they who shall succeed us, shall behold 
still greater wonders!” 


Educa¬ 

tional 

Changes 


The changes in education during this period 
have been in line with changes in other 
aspects of life. In times past schoolhouses 
were small and not properly built or equip¬ 
ped. The stoves roasted those seated close by and al¬ 
lowed those at a distance to shiver. The wabbly, back¬ 
less, twelve-foot bench and desk meant dangling limbs, 
awkward twistings to go to class, testing of the pocket- 
knife on the soft pine desk-top, temptations to rock the 
bench or desk and spoil a sweet disposition or a fine pen- 


98 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


manship. The untrained, unskilled teacher, with rod 
and ruler, quill pen and dunce cap failed to inspire 
and create a love of learning. The textbooks were few, 
crude, and not well adapted to school use. The school 
laws were as crude and inadequate as schoolhouses and 
schoolbooks. Neither was the need and value of edu¬ 
cation as evident as it is now. 

Boys walked ten miles to attend Patrick Menan’s 
school and became national figures. Abraham H. Cassel 
attended school six weeks when eleven years old and, in 
spite of this handicap, became a teacher himself and ren- 



RURAL SCHOOLROOM SCENE, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO—FROM H. 

L. FISHER’S “OLDEN TIME” 


dered history an invaluable service by the manuscripts 
and rare prints which he rescued from destruction. In 
Hosensack Academy, taught by a university-bred teacher, 
farmers’ boys studied the dead languages and higher 
mathematics, calculated eclipses, transcribed theological 
lectures, and wrote Latin letters to each other. Schools, 



















































EDUCATIONAL CHANGES 


VETERAN TEACHERS, 1922. 
Annie Bender, 46 


FIGURES INDICATE YEARS OF SERVICE 

Clara Bodey, 51 


Jonathan Huber, 50 


Sarah Fry, 51 


Michael H. Beltz, 43 




100 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


prior to 1884, seldom gave any attention to grammar, 
geography, mensuration, algebra, or the writing of 
essays. 

In Pennsylvania-German communities the schools 
were conducted in the German language. The Bible, 
either in part or its entirety, was the universal read¬ 
ing book. Some of the teachers excelled in illuminative 
writing. This was ornamental writing with different 
colored inks that found its way to titlepages, bookmarks 
and reward cards. Though crude and inartistic, it was 
expressive of artistic taste, like the fancy needlework, 
the samplers, the decorated stoveplates and earthen¬ 
ware. In speaking about this, Henry C. Mercer says: 
(Illuminative writing) “reminds one of the ornamental 
writing practiced in the cloisters, a fair art of the mid¬ 
dle ages that received its deathblow from the printing 
press but was kept alive in altered form by Pennsyl¬ 
vania immigrants from Germany to die a lingering 
death.” Illuminative writing occasionally found its 
way into the cyphering books of the advanced pupils in 
which they wrote out their problems in arithmetic with 
the full solution. 


Post- 

Office 

Service 


The change in postal service has been won¬ 
derful. Watson relates that during the Rev¬ 
olutionary War period conveyances by mail 
were hazardous, infrequent, and expensive. 
Families in rural communities depended on private 
chances and exchanged letters very rarely. Nothing 
was more common than for men in the public service 
to write two or three times before a reply would be 
received. “Not long since, when postage was twenty- 
five cents per letter to towns in the West, or to New 
Orleans, the last occupying a month in transit, the tax 
of postage was a heavy item, when all outside of one 


POST OFFICE SERVICE 


101 


sheet was taxed double.—Now double letters can pass 
as single, to those who will write without useless enve¬ 
lopes.” In 1828 it took a month for the country to learn 
the result of a presidential election. Washington had 
been buried two weeks before his death became known 
in Boston. To-day a one-cent stamp attached to a 
properly addressed card and placed in the hands of the 
postal clerks will place at the command of the writer 
232,000 miles of railway service and 434,000 miles of 
post^outes, reaching every nook of Uncle Sam’s posses¬ 
sions. Five cents will command the service of all for¬ 
eign countries. The postal service acts as letter carrier, 
special messenger, express agent, savings bank, insur¬ 
ance agent, and moral censor. 

To do business a century ago involved 
Business hardships which cannot be appreciated to- 
Methods day. The shipping of goods by wagon and 
the collection of bills were tedious and ex¬ 
pensive. To start on horseback on a collection trip to 
Harrisburg, Carlisle, and beyond, or down to the Caro- 
linas, with prospects of muddy roads, swollen streams 
filled with rafts of floating ice, called for a fearless 
heart and courage. Pack horses carried the accumulat¬ 
ing silver received in settlement of bills over lonely 
mountains and through dense forests. Rude rooms in 
loghouse inns sheltered the collector and collected silver 
for the night. 

Farmers, then as now, sold their produce 
Going to in the city, but customs and methods have 
Market changed greatly. A noted writer gives a 
picture of forsaken practices in these 

words: 

“The road was good, the passing scenery gay, 

Mile after mile passed unperceived away, 


102 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


Till in the west the day began to close 

And Spring House tavern furnished us repose. 

Here two long rows of market folks were seen, 

Ranged front to front, the table placed between, 

Where bags, of meat, and bones, and crusts of bread, 

And hunks of bacon all around were spread; 

One pint of beer from lip to lip went round, 

And scarce a crumb the hungry house-dog found; 

Torrents of Dutch from every quarter came, 

Pigs, calves and sour-krout the important theme; 

While we, on future plans resolving deep, 

Discharged our bill and straight retired to sleep.” 

The militia law made obligatory the hold- 
Muster ing of drills by the State militia at certain 

Days stated times during the year. Those of mili¬ 

tary age who absented themselves had to pay 
a fine. These gatherings became occasions for a day’s 
outing in rural sections like the county fairs of to-day. 
Hutchinson says: “‘Battalion’ and ‘General Review’ 
days of militia were the days of the year. The ‘bone 
and sinew’ then reported themselves for the annual 
inspection review, drill, and parade. As for uniform, 
each dressed according to his inclination; some wore 
coats and some did not; the coats were of all colors, 
shapes and material—from white to black, and from 
linen to broadcloth. Hats and caps of every style cov¬ 
ered the heads. Some of fhe yeomen wore boots, some 
shoes, and others went barefoot. As for weapons, they 
were various, muskets, rifles, double and single-barrel 

shotguns, canes, hoop-poles, cornstalks and umbrellas_ 

the latter frequently hoisted to protect the bearers from 
the rays of the sun, or occasional showers. The officers 
generally provided themselves with a sword, scabbard, 
and belt. The drill and inspection were on a par with 
the arms and accouterments. The generals, colonels, 


MUSTER DAYS 


103 


and other mounted officers charged furiously on their 
fiery, untamed steeds, conscious that the fate of the 
nation depended upon them. The different regiments 
having formed their lines, marched through town to 
the parade ground or ‘commons’ followed by all the 

children old enough to accompany them.Their 

military evolutions were executed with wonderful pre¬ 
cision, no two obeying the word of command at the 
same time, unless by accident, and such a thing as keep¬ 
ing step was unknown. The firing, considering that 
there was scarcely a charge of powder in the whole line, 
was equally well done. After inspection, an hour’s rest 
was given, when arms were grounded and ranks broken. 
From the numerous hucksters who always thronged 
the field on these occasions, plentiful supplies of lem¬ 
onade, small-beer, Monongahela whiskey, brandy, rum 
or gin, were obtained by the tired soldiers, whose subse¬ 
quent evolutions were somewhat tangled.” 

At the formation of the county only 58 
Modes of riding chairs were returned in tax lists of 
Travel the county, which were owned in Moreland, 

Upper Dublin, Upper Hanover, Horsham, 
Abington, Cheltenham, Douglass, Norriton, Plymouth, 
Springfield, and Whitemarsh. The absence meant going 
afoot, on horseback, or on heavy springless farm 
wagons. Ladies then would ride thirty or more miles 
on horseback, do their shopping, and return the next 
day. 

Samuel Breck, after riding in a train, wrote these 
words in 1833: “If one could stop when one wanted, 
and if one were not locked up in a box, with fifty or 
sixty tobacco chewers, and the engine and fire did not 
burn holes in one’s clothes; and the springs and hinges 
did not make such a racket and the smell of the smoke, 
of the oil and of the chimney did not poison one; and if 



104 


CHANGED HOME LIFE 


one could see the country and was not in danger of 
being blown skyhigh or kicked off the rails—it would 
be the perfection of traveling.” 

From a committee report on the “Present State of 
the Motive Power on the Philadelphia and Columbia 
Railroad,” 1836, we glean the following: “From the 
time the engine leaves the depot, and while running the 
entire route, the engineer is under no control whatever, 
and is under no responsibility as to his conduct or the 



VIEW OF POTTSTOWN, ABOUT 1835 

management of the engine. His speed is regulated by 
his own will; the times of his stopping and starting 
appear to be according to his own convenience or ca¬ 
price ; he takes on his train such way cars as he chooses 
and rejects those he does not wish to take; and the 
farmer, or the miller whose produce has been lying in 
the car for days or even for weeks waiting for a chance 
of conveyance to market has no means of redress. His 
complaints are unheeded; the locomotives pass by, and 
his cars must stand on the siding until some engineer 
is sufficiently obliging to attach them to his train.” 




















































CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BUILDINGS 


105 



CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
H. K. Boyer, Lower Providence 

Northern, Upper Gwynedd , 

Barren Hill, Whitemarsb 





CHAPTER VII 

THE WORLD AT LARGE 


“None of us liveth to himself and no man 
dieth to himself.” Our recurring daily ex¬ 
perience proves this. The story of our 
county richly illustrates it. A brief refer¬ 
ence to a few illustrations of the relations that helped 
to mould the history of the county seems in place. 


Ties 

That 

Bind 


The 

Old 

Home 


Immigrants could not forget the home¬ 
land, the place of their birth. Letters went 
back and forth, thirty, forty, even fifty 
years after the migration. Appeals for 
help were made to which responses came. The wealth, 
the sympathy, the counsel of the old associations helped 
the pioneer to bear the burdens of his changed environ¬ 
ment. They aided materially in the development of 
the county. The manuscripts and printed records that 
this relationship called forth constitute an invaluable 
source of information respecting the history of the 
period. 


Philadelphia, the port of entry for most of 
Phila- the immigrants, made its impressions that 
delphia remained for life either as agreeable or dis¬ 
agreeable mental pictures. Here the immi¬ 
grant bought his needed tools and seeds and other neces¬ 
sities for the new home. Hither he came to cast his 
vote and cultivate his virtues and his vices. Hither he 
came when matters demanding official action by county 
authorities impelled. 

Philadelphia, in early days, surpassed other cities 
of the colonies in learning, the arts, and public spirit. 


PHILADELPHIA 


107 


It was the country’s metropolis and capital city, the 
center of its trade and wealth in the days of the Revo¬ 
lution, and for many years the most populous city. To¬ 
day it is one of the world’s greatest workshops, its 
manufacturing plants representing 211 of the 246 lines 
of employment as classified by the census bureau of the 
United States. Proximity of residence to such a place 
means endless opportunity. The county’s sons and 
daughters in every decade have found work, wealth, 
education and social standing within the city. In re¬ 
turn the city gave direct service in developing the re¬ 
sources of the county. 

The erection of Montgomery county naturally 
changed some relationships, while others remained un¬ 
changed. Trips on account of official county services 
centered in the new county seat, Norristown. The sub¬ 
urbanizing zone is widening over the lower end of the 
county, with its villas crowning the hilltops or hiding in 
shady hollows, with its well-kept roads and modern im¬ 
provements. The benefits such development brings to 
the county, socially, economically, architecturally, po¬ 
litically, financially, with an occasional unwholesome 
by-product, form an essential element of the history of 
the county. To trace such development is beyond the 
scope of this book. 

The relation of the county to the country’s 
The various wars is very interesting and in- 

Wars structive. The only Indian trouble within 

the county occurred in 1728 in the Upper 
E nc ]—probably at or near Pool Forge on the Mana- 
tawny. A roving band of eleven crude Shawnees on the 
warpath clashed with twenty white settlers. Two or 
three Indians were slightly wounded. The scattered 
settlers, greatly alarmed, left their homes, met at, a 


108 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


mill—perhaps at Pottstown—discussed the wild 
rumors, and went home. The excitement soon died. 

In the French and Indian war Montgomery county 
lay so far removed from the frontier line between the 
red and white man that it escaped the horrors of the 
Indian massacres which befell the exposed communi¬ 
ties. The terrors of the struggle were, however, 
brought home vividly to the community in various ways. 
Friedrich Reichelderfer, of the Upper End, for ex¬ 
ample, had moved to Albany township, in Berks county. 
When the war broke out he returned to his former 
neighborhood and only occasionally went back to his 
new home to attend to crops and cattle. On one of 
these trips the Indians made an attack. He hastened 
for help to a neighbor, who, to his great grief, had been 
slain by the Indians. He hastily returned to his own 
dwellinghouse to find it in ashes, one of his grown 
daughters dead, the other horribly mangled, although 
alive. A few final words, a parting kiss and the second 
daughter was dead. 

Some of the families who had settled in the exposed 
region moved back and acquired homes in the more 
thickly settled parts. Among these were families that 
moved from Upper Macungie, Lehigh county, to Upper 
Hanover and Marlborough. 

In the Fall of 1755 six hundred men, women, and 
children took refuge among the Moravians at Bethle¬ 
hem, their houses, barns and cattle having been burned 
and destroyed by the Indians. Donations of grain, 
flour, fruit, clothing, tools, etc., were made. Among 
the contributors were residents of Skippack, Franconia, 
Goshenhoppen, Worcester and Norriton. The citizens 
of Montgomery raised almost $600 to help defray the 
expense of placing guards along the frontier as a pro¬ 
tection to the settlers. When Conrad Weiser issued a 


THE WARS 


109 


call for wagons to carry forage to Raistown (Bedford), 
the county responded by organizing wagon companies 
who provided horses, wagons, and drivers to answer the 
call. Some of the prominent men of the county attend¬ 
ed the Indian treaties at Easton and Lancaster and 
helped to defray the expenses in making presents to 
the Indians. 

As has been shown in “Historic Highways,” Penn¬ 
sylvania and Virginia had known practically nothing of 
the art of war; they had no effective militia, no dream 
of military ethics. They did not know what obedience 
meant and had no knowledge of organization. Their 
liberty was license or nothing. The experiences in the 
years 1745-1763 prepared a nation for the hour her in¬ 
dependence should strike. 

The Revolutionary war meant for the citizens of 
Montgomery county active participation on the field of 
battle, donations of food and clothing, many bitter 
hardships and privations, a depreciated currency and 
in some instances sore perplexity. Avowed adherents 
of the British side, who were proclaimed traitors and 
deprived of their property by confiscation and sale, 
moved to British provinces. Farmers, contrary to army 
regulations, sold farm produce to the British while lo¬ 
cated in Philadelphia. If discovered they were made to 
suffer. 

In the contest for liberty, the Irish with the Ger¬ 
mans on the frontier, stood for independence. The 
eastern Germans sided with the Quakers, who were op¬ 
posed to war. These, many of whom were adher¬ 
ents of the plain sects, were looked down upon with 
suspicion and were subjected to heavy fines. They 
declined to take up arms, but none of them on this ac¬ 
count lost his property by confiscation. Some even 
who had conscientious scruples about the payment of 


110 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


the fines, laid down the coin, which the officer took; 
the consciences were thus appeased. 

The Revolutionary war meant also a longer con¬ 
tinuous stay of Washington and the army within the 



NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARCH, VALLEY FORGE 


county than in any other place. It meant after the 
massacre at Paoli, September 20, and the crossing of 
the Schuylkill at points between Fatland ford and 












THE WARS 


111 


Phoenixville, the leisurely marching of the British 

army through Providence, Norriton, and other town- 

% 

ships along the Ridge road to Philadelphia. Thereupon 
followed the encampment of the American army at 
Crooked Hill (Sanatoga), September 18 to 25, and of 
part of the army along the road from Trappe to Evans- 
burg; the march through Frederick township to Pen- 
nypacker’s mills, September 26, and Germantown, Octo¬ 
ber 3, where the battle of Germantown was fought, Oc¬ 
tober 4; the retreat to Towamencin, October 8; the 
march to Worcester, October 8 to 16; the march to and 
battle at Whitemarsh; the march, December 11, from 
Whitemarsh, across the Schuylkill river at Swedes ford, 
and into winter quarters at Valley Forge; the move¬ 
ment of part of the army under Lafayette to Barren 
Hill and of the rest of the army under Washington, 
June, 1778. The Valley Forge encampment meant for 
the community the knitting of stockings, the emptying 
of chests of clothing and bedding, the supplying of 
food, the busy clatter of the mills, the rumbling of sup¬ 
ply wagons, many little deeds of mercy and love. The 
presence of the armies also meant damages for which 
claims amounting to $52,000 were presented. What 
the damages were for which no claim was made can¬ 
not be known. Local names like Muhlenberg, Miles, 
Loller, Porter, Stuart, Thompson, Rittenhouse, Hiester, 
Reed were rendered immortal by services given. 

It was during the Revolutionary period that the 
general State militia law of 1777 was passed. 1 his 
provided that the various counties throughout the state 
should be divided into districts, each of which was to 
have within it not less than 680 men fit for militia duty. 
Over these divisions were placed lieutenants for each 
city and county and sub-lieutenants for each district. 
Each district was subdivided into eight parts or com- 


112 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


panies. Provision was also made for fines, drills by 
companies, and battalion parades. These drills and 
parades were very popular half a century later. 



MUHLENBERG FAMILY 

F. A. C. Muhlenberg j. p. G. Muhlenberg 

H. M. Muhlenberg 


G. H. E. Muhlenberg 


J. C. Kunze (Son-in-law) 







THE WARS 


113 


Fries’ Rebellion while insignificant as to numbers 
became very significant in view of principles in¬ 
volved. It interests us because some of the partici¬ 
pants were citizens of Montgomery county. L. S. 
Shimmell in his “History of Pennsylvania” relates the 
story as follows: “Early in Adams’ administration, 
the Federal government imposed the so-called ‘house 
tax’ which required the assessors to measure and regis¬ 
ter the panes of glass in windows. To the Germans 



HOME OF FREDERICK ANTES 
Headquarters of General Washington, September 21-26, 1777 


the tax seemed tyrannous; and in the counties of Berks, 
Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery and Bucks they re¬ 
sisted the enforcement of the law. From the fact that 
women in certain places poured hot water on the asses¬ 
sors, the insurrection got the name of ‘Hot Water Re¬ 
bellion,’ while through its leader it also received the 
name of ‘Fries’ Rebellion.’ John Fries, a soldier of the 





114 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


Revolution, was a well-known character in the Ger¬ 
man section north of Philadelphia. He was an auc¬ 
tioneer and was endowed with the gift of leadership. 
With a plumed hat on his head, a pistol and a sword at 
his side, his little dog ‘Whiskey’ at his heels, and about 
sixty armed men around him, he marched from place 
to place, to the sound of fife and drum, and harangued 
the Germans on the injustice of the ‘house tax.’ He did 
this for several months before the government took any 
notice of it. Finally, a United States marshal arrested 
twelve of his men and confined them in the Sun Inn, 
Bethlehem. Fries went to their rescue. He appeared 
before the inn in March, 1799, and demanded the sur¬ 
render of the prisoners. The marshal had to yield and 
Fries marched away in triumph.” Later Fries was 
tried for treason, convicted and condemned to die but 
was pardoned by the President and led a useful life in 
Philadelphia. 

In the War of 1812 the entire militia of southeast¬ 
ern Pennsylvania was summoned by governor’s procla¬ 
mation. Camp was established on the Delaware at 
Marcus Hook, below Chester. The captains of the 
Montgomery county companies were: Jacob Fryer, 
John Grosscup, William Holgate, John Hurst, William 

McGlathery, Joseph Sands, William McGill, - 

McLean, James Robinson, George Sensenderfer and 
Jacob Wentz. 

In the Mexican war no Montgomery county organ¬ 
ization took part. Neither are there records at hand 
showing who volunteered. W. S. Hancock, who had 
graduated at West Point in 1844, took part in the war 
as an officer and was made a brevet first lieutenant 
“for gallant and meritorious conduct.” 

The Civil war dates from the firing on Fort Sum¬ 
ter on April 12, 1861. In response to the President’s 



THE WARS 


115 


call for troops, April 15, seven companies of Mont¬ 
gomery county men started from the county seat for 
the front. At least fifty companies of soldiers, num¬ 
bering about 8000 men, who enlisted for periods rang¬ 
ing from ninety days to three years, were made up 
in the county. Some men re-enlisted. The placing of 
substitutes was allowed, religious bodies assisting their 
members in such instances wherever possible. The 
story of each individual has not been told and cannot 
be told. Of the services of the companies there are 
records. One regiment to which five Montgomery 
county companies belonged travelled by marches 1738 
miles, by water 5390 miles, by railroad 3311 miles. The 
women organized and rendered invaluable service. By 
deeds done the names Hartranft, Hancock, Jones, Zook, 
Schall, Yost, Bean and others became household words. 
The names of 546 soldiers who lost their lives in the 
struggle are recorded on the monument in the Public 
Square, Norristown. 

In the Spanish-American war, April 24, 1898-De- 
cember 10, 1898, the soldiers volunteered; it is, there¬ 
fore, difficult to collect data respecting Montgomery 
countians. 

The history of Montgomery county in the World 
War has not been written. Data have been collected, 
but have not been edited and made available to the 
public. Suffice it to say that in every phase of war ac¬ 
tivity the citizens of the county rendered their due 
share of service, often “going over the top.” In the 
various Liberty Loan subscriptions approximately 
$35,000,000 was invested by residents of the county in 
the bonds issued. 


116 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 



BUILDINGS TYPICAL OF MODERN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 
East Greenville High School Building 
Upper Dublin Consolidated Grammar School Building 
Upper Moreland Junior High School Building 


















THE MIGRATIONS 


117 


Whence the people of early Montgomery 
county came has been shown in part in an¬ 
other connection. Whither they went is 
quite a different problem. That there has 
been a movement out of the county goes without saying. 
That this was a matter of necessity is well established. 


The 

Migra 

tions 


There was a limit to the number of farmers who could 
acquire farms. In early times, before the age of steam 
and machinery, there was little else to do. The sur¬ 
plus population had to find means of subsistence else¬ 
where. In addition the county was in its early days a 
kind of recruiting station or transfer point. The coun¬ 
ty has thus been a huge beehive from which busy work¬ 
ers have been swarming to found new communities. 
Machines have made the county more of a manufactur¬ 
ing community. The drift of population is rather to 
factory centers than to untilled acres. 


Montgomery countians moved into Bucks county 
and helped to build up present Northampton county. 
They became part of other counties. They swarmed 
into the Carolinas and the Shenandoah valley before the 
Revolution and helped to make up the pioneer bands 
who took up Kentucky and Tennessee. They moved 
into the Ohio country and the states beyond and after 
the close of the Civil war helped to populate the fron¬ 
tier states. Their descendants thrive on the Pacific 
coast and in Canada. Hans Joost Hite, at one time an 
extensive landholder in the county, helped to acquire 
and develop 10,000 acres of land in Orange county, Vir¬ 
ginia. He drew Montgomery county families after 
himself. Many of the Deshlers of Columbus, Ohio, and 
many prominent citizens of Penn Yan, N. Y., and Eas¬ 
ton, Penna., are descendants of two orphan boys of 
Worcester township. Records show that families of 


118 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


the upper end migrated to North Carolina and Mary¬ 
land prior to 1789. 

Maryland had a population of 25,000 in 1689, 
30,000 in 1710 and 130,000 in 1756. The greater part 
of the increase in population was due to the migration 
of Pennsylvanians among whom was a sprinkling of 
Montgomery countians. Descendants of forty immi¬ 
grant families of 1734 have been traced to forty-two 
states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, Nova Scotia, 
Canada, China, India, Japan, Germany. 

Hendrick Pennabecker, who was prominent in the 
county in early days, has over 3000 descendants scat¬ 
tered far and wide throughout the United States. 
Among these are eight clergymen, fifteen physicians, 

twenty-eight lawyers, three burgesses, nine assembly- 

0 

men, five state senators, two county treasurers, one 
state treasurer, two members of constitutional conven¬ 
tions, one canal commissioner, one presidential elector, 
two members of Congress, one governor. One hundred 
and forty-four were engaged in the Civil war, of whom 
twenty-seven were commissioned officers, including two 
generals and fourteen colonels. Of the women three 
married judges, one became the wife of a United States 
senator and one a countess residing in Switzerland. 

Among the men of national reputation who could 
look back to the county as an ancestral home, either on 
paternal or maternal side, may be mentioned U. S. 
Grant, Governor Porter, of Michigan; Medary, of Ohio, 
governor of Kansas; John Reynolds, governor of Illi¬ 
nois; General Custer, victim of an Indian massacre; 
Dr. Joseph Leidy, the Muhlenbergs, Rev. Dr. Jacob Fry, 
Christopher Heydrick, Chester D. Hartranft. 

The children and grandchildren of one Montgomery 
county family were scattered in Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, 
California, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Pennsylvania. 


THE MIGRATIONS 


119 


Before the final history of the county can be writ¬ 
ten an exhaustive study of this migratory movement 
must be made. 

What each one may do and may not do is in 
Legis- part defined by man-made laws, regulations, 

lation and customs. These, few and simple in 

pioneer days, grew with the growth of the 
county until today it would be a very difficult problem 
to determine their number. Some years ago it was es- 



HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL WAYNE 
September 20-26, 1777, Birthplace of John F. Hartranft, 1830, Southwest 

of Fagleysville 


timated that a citizen of New York city was subject to 
21,260 laws, including the laws of the United States, but 
not including the “ordinances, regulations issued by 
police, fire, tenement, water, street, licenses, alder- 
manic, dock, charity, and other departments.” In ad- 





120 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


dition to these public laws there are regulations of 
business, church and society that shape conduct. These 
facts help one to form a vague idea of the intricate net¬ 
work of laws that bind us. These shape the history of 
the county; citizens of the county through the vote of 
themselves or their representatives helped to shape them. 

At one time Montgomery county was a dis- 
Busi- tinct agricultural community. The farmer 

ness then almost controlled the local market 

and produced nearly all he needed in the 
home or on the farm. Since that time conditions have 
been continually changing. Before the Declaration of 
Independence Philadelphia had become a busy harbor 
for the importation and exportation of goods of all 
kinds. 

A hundred years ago the larger country stores of¬ 
fered for sale: chinaware from China, France, and 
England; coffee from Arabia and the West Indies; 
cocoa from South America; alum from Sweden and 
Germany; cinnamon from Ceylon; cloves and nut¬ 
megs from the Spice Islands; oranges and lemons from 
the Mediterranean coast; sugar and molasses from the 
West Indies; wine from Portugal and Spain; shawls 
from Cashmere in Tartary; carpets from Turkey, 
Persia and Hindostan; silks from China and India; 
laces from France and the Netherlands; cotton cloth 
and calicoes from India and Great Britain; woolen 
goods from England and France. 

Today dealers in fancy fruit offer for sale the 
finest fruits from Florida, Jamaica, Belgium, South 
Africa, Spain, Arabia, Turkey, California, Smyrna. 
The village store sells canned goods from California, 
Maryland, New York, Wisconsin, Florida, Maine, Mas¬ 
sachusetts and Connecticut; toys from Europe; silks 


BUSINESS 


121 


from Japan; dates from Greece; Queensware from Eng¬ 
land and Austria; shoes made in Massachusetts from 
hides imported from South America; linens from Ire¬ 
land; coffee from South America; cotton from Egypt; 
fish from Norway; salmon from Alaska; furs from 



Monument in Memory of 
GENERAL NASH 

Mennonite Cemetery, Kulpsville, Pa. 


Russia. The village druggist in the thousands of items 
offered for sale has products from all parts of the 
world. The manufacturer faces the manufacturer of 
other communities and nations and in many cases is de¬ 
pendent on other countries for his raw materials; the 
storekeeper likewise competes with other communities; 
the farmer in selling his products in the same way 






122 


THE WORLD AT LARGE 


faces the world. The hides, the dresses, meats, the 
grain, the foods of other continents regulate the prices 
of what he has to sell. 

“The industrial system which the mechanical revo¬ 
lution has fastened upon the human race in the last 
hundred years is so inconceivably intricate and so close¬ 
ly articulated that dislocation in one part affects the 
rest and industrial cohesiveness in the world has come 
to be a more essential factor in the world than political 
cohesiveness. The time, therefore, is long past when 
any nation can isolate itself from the economic secur¬ 
ity or chaos of the rest of the world. To talk in terms 
of eighteenth century formulas, to repeat the advice 
of eighteenth century statesmen, is to blind our eyes to 
what has happened in the last hundred years. Whether 
we like it or not, the race in that time has blazed a new 
trail—a trail which cannot be retraced. For better or 
worse the family of nations has been drawn together in 
an interdependent relationship far closer than our 
forefathers in Washington’s day ever dreamed of.” 

Raymond B. Fosdick. 



LOG HUT, VALLEY FOUGE 





CHAPTER VIII 

STATISTICS 


Aim 

of 

Chapter 


The purpose of this chapter is to make ac¬ 
cessible statistics that throw light on past 
and present progress in the county. A com¬ 
parative study of these is not offered because 
it will be more interesting and valuable to the pupil to 
undertake original studies and comparisons for himself 
under the teacher’s direction. It may not be out of place 
to caution the pupil that while figures do not lie, as the 
saying goes, it is easy to misrepresent and to draw wrong 
conclusions with them. 


Montgomery county was established by an 
County Act of Assembly, passed September 10, 1784, 
Statistics and contains approximately 480 square miles 
(variously stated as 450, 473, 484 square 
miles). Its population was 22,924 in 1790, less than 50 
per square mile, and in 1920 199,310, more than 400 per 
square mile. At the latter period the state had a popula¬ 
tion of almost 200 per square mile; Philadelphia of al¬ 
most 14,000 and Pike county of less than 13 per square 
mile. Of the population of 1920, 8,326 were negroes, 68 
Indians, Chinese and Japanese and 24,669 foreign-born 
whites. Among the latter the following countries were 
represented, arranged according to numbers, the highest 
first: Italy, Ireland, Germany, England, Poland, Hun¬ 
gary, Russia, Scotland, Canada, France, Czecho-Slovakia, 
Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Jugo-Slavia, Wales, Lithu¬ 
ania, Rumania, Syria, and other countries. 

At the formation of the county there were in the 
county 58 gristmills, 36 sawmills, 33 tanneries. In 1830 
there were 17 merchantmills, 99 gristmills, 76 sawmills, 3 


124 


STATISTICS 


marble sawmills, 15 paper mills, 30 oilmills, 10 clover- 
mills, 12 powdermills, 5 ironworks, 9 cotton factories, 3 
woolen factories, 11 fulling mills and 27 tanneries. 

The State Department of Internal Affairs published 
the following data respecting the productive industries of 
the county for the year 1920: 


Value of 


Industry 

Men 

Wages 

Capital 

Production 

Building and 





Contracting. 

1,043 

$ 1,415,000 $ 

1,141,800 

$ 4,769,900 

Clay and Glass. 

618 

772,700 

1,102,600 

1,753,400 

Chemicals, etc. 
Food and Food 

232 

299,600 

1,770,800 

6,753,700 

Products. . . 
Leather and 

724 

987,900 

2,585,200 

7,207,100 

Rubber. 

764 

1,029,000 

5,173,800 

5,685,900 

Liquors, etc. . 
Lumber, etc. . 

95 

150,100 

1,432,500 

866,700 

585 

741,500 

1,634,500 

2,714,900 

Paper and 


Printing. . . 
Textiles and 

1,902 

2,533,600 

5,590,000 

10,909,600 

Products. . . 
Metals and 

6,654 

5,600,000 

13,363,600 

35,842,500 

Products. . . 
Mines and 

14,037 

22,165,400 

47,373,200 

138,081,700 

Quarries. . . 

160 

219,300 

277,100 

546,200 

Public Service. 
Tobacco and 

627 

997,900 

25,610,600 

4,422,000 

Products. . . 

2,755 

2,194,900 

2,019,500 

8,552,500 

Miscellaneous. 

2,234 

2,877,900 

9,426,600 

18,248,900 

Total. 

32,430 

$41,869,800 $118,501,800 

$246,355,000 

Total 1919.. 

30,020 

31,703,800 

94,296,400 

178,148,300 

County Conshohocken Norristown 

Pottstown 

Bal. of Co. 

Population 1920 

• 



199,310 

8,481 

32,319 

17,431 


Employes: 


32,430 

2,205 

4,725 

4,193 

21,307 

Wages: 

$ 41,869,800 

$ 3,357,500 

$ 5,475,100 $ 5,224,100 

$ 27,813,100 

Capital: 




118,501,800 

10,213,800 

27,042,900 

16,036,700 

65,208,400 

Value of Product: 

246,355,000 

17,949,200 

22,951,000 

33,003,100 

172,451,700 






COUNTY STATISTICS 


125 


Philadelphia during the same year, 1920, paid out in 
wages $106,080,100 on a capital of $2,164,419,200 and 
manufactured goods valued at $2,343,626,700. 

In 1921 Montgomery county industries turned out the 
following products: 

25,000 gallons of alcohol, 8,514 tons of fertilizers, 819,- 
250 gallons of tar, 13,814,000 building bricks, 83,309 
pounds of confectionery, 516,342 gallons of ice cream, 
92,354 tons of manufactured ice, 4,200 gallons of vinegar, 
1,048,429 rubber tires and tubes, 1,884,781 cigar boxes, 
1,591,104 pairs of gloves other than leather, 1,416,082 
dozen pairs of hosiery, 765,830 dozen shirts, 12,325 tons 
of iron and steel bars, 53,249 tons of billets, blooms and 
slabs, 76,563 tons of iron and steel ingots, 293,132 tons 
of pig iron, 3,220 tons of manganese, 6,729 tons of pipes 
and tubings, 31,039 tons of iron and steel plates, 31,890 
tons of iron and steel sheets, 18,420 typewriting ma¬ 
chines, 1,213 tons of glass sand, 105,446,336 cigars, 
10,300 dozen brooms, 381,580 tons of by-product coke. 


The Triennial Assessment of the county published in 
1922 gives the following totals: 


Value of Real Estate taxable . 

Number of horses, mares, geldings and mules over the 

age of four years . 

Value . 

Number of meat cattle over the age of four years.. 

Value . 

Value of salaries and emoluments of office, offices, 
posts of profit, professions, trades and occupations 
Aggregate value of all property taxable for county 

purposes . 

Amount of money at interest, including mortgages, 

judgments, bonds, notes, stocks, etc. 

Value of stages, ominbusses, hacks, cabs, etc. 

Aggregate value of property taxable for state pur¬ 
poses . 


$104,714,770 

11,336 
$ 707,485 

17,885 
$ 738,500 


9,106,425 

115,267,180 

42,929,240 

24,925 

42,954,165 


These figures do not include Abington, Cheltenham 
and Lower Merion townships. 










126 


STATISTICS 


The growth of the wealth of the county is shown by 
the following comparative Statement of Assessments and 
Taxes 1900 to 1922, as given in Annual Report of the 
Controller: 

Comparative Statement of Assessments, Taxes, Etc. 


Amount 


Amount Amount Valuation Amount 


Year 

Valuation 

County 

State 

State 


Co. Purposes 

Tax 

Purposes 

Tax 

1900 

$ 82,545,825 

$165,091.65 

$ 22,249,060 

$ 88,926.24 

1901 

81,222,100 

162,444.20 

22,841,945 

91,377.78 

1902 

83,947,960 

167,895.92 

23,011,605 

92,046.42 

1903 

85,649,945 

171,299.89 

23,274,930 

93,099.80 

1904 

91,196,615 

182,393.23 

23,744,815 

94,979.26 

1905 

93,160,630 

186,482.94 

25,764,659 

101,998.97 

1906 

95,198,375 

190,396.75 

26,977,020 

197,908.08 

1907 

102,593,830 

307,781.19 

30,386,315 

121,154.26 

1908 

104,848,750 

209,697.50 

31,727,565 

126,910.26 

1909 

104,962,250 

314,785.55 

34,182,566 

136,730.26 

1910 

112,569,310 

337,707.69 

39,937,615 

156,750.46 

1911 

115,291,200 

345,873.15 

45,560,892 

182,243.75 

1912 

115,079,920 

345,239.76 

52,921,085 

211,684.32 

1913 

126,662,510 

379,987.53 

61,280,540 

245,122.16 

1914 

128,484,660 

256,969.32 

72,389,720 

289,558.88 

1915 

130,359,825 

260,719.65 

81,610,695 

326,442.68 

1916 

134,438,350 

268,876.70 

98,886,690 

395,546.76 

1917 

136,816,380 

273,632.76 

115,200,260 

460,801.04 

1918 

137,908,830 

275,817.66 

125,137,636 

500,550.54 

1919 

147,469,845 

294,939.69 

133,198,210 

532,792.84 

1920 

150,108,295 

300,216.59 

136,692,632 

546,770.52 

1921 

160,137,721 

320,275.43 

141,935,813 

567,743.24 

1922 

184,906,530 

369,813.06 

143,273,235 

573,092.94 

The same report 

gives the 

Receipts and Expenditures 


of the county as follows: 


RECEIPTS 


Respective Balances in Treasury January 1, 1922. 


County Funds Account .$ 

Liquor License Funds Account. 

Mercantile License Funds Account... 
Hunters’ Lie. Funds Acct., Year 1921. 
Clerk of Courts’ Funds Acct. (Over¬ 
draft, $234.04). 

Register of Wills’ Funds Acct. 

Recorder of Deeds’ Funds Acct. 


92,884.41 

9,964.02 

242.61 

46.80 


3,424.17 

24,697.54 $ 131,025.51 








COUNTY STATISTICS 


127 


Received from various sources and 
credited to the following accounts 
during the year: 

County Funds Acct. (Sundry Items)..$ 441,912.23 
County Funds Acct. (Temp. Loans) . 300,000.00 

County Funds Acct. (Transfer of 


Balances) . 564,692.15 

Dog Taxes Funds Acct. 15,088.00 

State Tax Funds Acct. 560,059.10 


Treasurer’s Fees on Fishing License 

Funds Acct. 

Liquor License Funds Acct. 

Mercantile License Funds Acct. 

Fishing License Funds Acct. 

Hunters’ License Funds Acct. 

Treasurer’s Fees on Dog License 

Funds Acct. 

Dog License Fines Funds Acct. 

Appraiser’s Fee Funds Acct. 

Treasurer’s Fees on Liquor and Mer¬ 
cantile License Funds Acct. 

Fishing Law Fines Funds Acct. 

Refund Commissions Funds Acct. 

Clerk of Courts’ Funds Acct. 

Ex-Clerk of Courts’ Funds Acct. 

Prothonotary’s Funds Acct. 

Register of Wills’ Funds Acct. 

Recorder of Deeds’ Funds Acct. 

Sheriff’s Funds Acct. 

Ex-Sheriff’s (L. A. Nagle, Dec’d) 
Ex-Sheriff’s (C. Swartz, Dec’d) 


Grand Total of all receipts, including 
balances . $2,225,349.08 


343.20 

16,896.64 

66,259.41 

3,460.00 

9,907.00 

1,225.10 

1,294.00 

1,991.75 

1,431.00 

40.00 

449.88 

6,352.67 

7.00 

15,568.45 

20,195.13 

52,667.55 

14,427.31 

53.00 

3.00 $2,094,323.57 


EXPENDITURES 

County-, proper, including salaries of 
Commissioners, Controller, District 

Attorney, Coroner and Treasurer’s 4 

Office,.$1,266,261.45 

Prison . 34,347.12 

Almshouse . 92,936.28 

Refund of Interest on daily balance 12.37 $1,393,575.22 


SPECIAL FUNDS EXPENDED 


Dog Tax Funds .$ 

Liquor License Funds . 

Mercantile License Funds . 

Hunters’ License Funds 1921 Year. . 


15,088.00 

25,278.66 

66,356.98 

46.80 






























128 


STATISTICS 


Hunters’ License Funds 1922 Year. . 

State Tax Funds . 

Fishing License Funds . . .. 

Treasurer’s Fees on Dog Lie. Funds. . 
Treasurer’s Fees on Fish’g Lie. Funds 

Appraiser’s Fees Funds . 

Treasurer’s Fees Funds . 

Refund Commissions Funds . 

Dog Law Fines Funds . 

Fishing Law Fines Funds . 

Clerk of Courts’ Funds. 

Ex-Clerk of Courts’ Funds . 

Prothonotary’s Funds . 

Register of Wills’ Funds . 

Recorder of Deeds’ Funds . 

Sheriff’s Funds . 

Ex-Sheriff’s Funds (L.A.Nagle, Dec’d) 
Ex-Sheriff’s Funds (Chas. Schwartz, 
Dec’d) . 


8,872.30 

560,059.10 

3,455.00 

1,225.10 

343.20 

1,991.75 

1,431.00 

449.88 

1,289.00 

40.00 

5,658.45 

7.00 

11,008.93 

19,949.86 

29,164.76 

14,427.31 

53.00 

3.00 $ 766,199.08 


$2,159,756.30 

RECAPITULATION OF COUNTY FUNDS DISBURSEMENTS 


Commissioners’ Office .$ 

Controller’s Office . 

Coroner’s Office . 

Clerk of the Courts’ Office . 

District Attorney’s Office . 

Prothonotary’s Office . 

Register of Wills’ Office . 

Recorder of Deeds’ Office . 

Sheriff’s Office . 

Treasurer’s Office . 

Bonded Indebtedness . 

Elections . 

Charitable and Penal Institutions.... 

Bridges . 

Road Damages . 

Roads . 

Courts. 

Court House . 

House of Detention . 

Justice of the Peace . 

Miscellaneous . 


63,244.28 

11,697.37 

1,222.35 

3,698.51 

14,771.36 

6,293.21 

1,350.38 

4,447.49 

3,002.00 

13,257.88 

11,620.00 

27,208.93 

107,230.75 

231,377.34 

14,980.70 

255,171.01 

48,589.04 

12,143.34 

9,744.08 

15.51 

425,195.92 


$1,266,261.45 







































TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


129 


It will be instructive to get nearer home in 
Toivnshij) the study of statistics. For this reason 
Statistics data bearing on the various townships and 
boroughs have been collated which are pre¬ 
sented herewith. 

Table I gives the origin and area of the districts 
and some particulars of them at the establishment of 
the county. 

Table II shows the growth of the county viewed 
from the standpoint of the schools. 

Table III shows the growth of the county viewed 
from the standpoint of census reports. 

Table IV shows number of males, age 21-45 years, 
1920, and property taxable for County and State pur¬ 
poses. By virtue of an Act of Assembly, 1913, all so- 
called “State Tax” is applied to county use. Previously 
three-fourths reverted to the county, the State retaining 
one-fourth. 

Table V shows what some of our roads are costing 
the community. 

Table VI shows the number of dealers paying mer¬ 
cantile taxes in the various districts. 

These are submitted in the hope that they may re¬ 
ceive careful consideration and that the pupils of the 
county schools will gain a clearer conception of what our 
county is and from what humble beginnings it has 


arisen. 


TABLE I—Formation of Townships and Boroughs 


130 


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TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


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Springfield.1684 Penn Manor. 4,013 16 29 2 1 .. 1 94 129 

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132 STATISTICS 


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TABLE II—Growth of Schools 


TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


133 


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1860 

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1884 2 6 1 1 50.00 32.00 115 832.56 134.23 


138 


STATISTICS 


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Salford .1900 4 7 4 .. 35.00 . 183 835.56 739.44 


TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


139 



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Upper Dublin ...1860 5 10 2 3 28.00 22.00 408 1,606.26 156.42 

1884 5 10 3 2 45.00 42.50 263 2,678.52 318.55 

1900 9 10 .. 9 . 45.00 331 5,713.01 596.66 

1919 17 10 1 16 70.00 72.19 464 25,882.59 2,768.61 


140 


STATISTICS 


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TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


141 


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TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 


143 


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144 


STATISTICS 


TABLE IV— Valuation 


tfl I O 
ShN 
as 

H 1-1 

_ -*-> +J 

c to t: 

83 § 

* 

| S ? 

^ a> s-i 
>< ft 

05 >0 41 

3 7 i» 

cs I S-i 


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o 


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0 ) 

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ft 

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3 

Ah 


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S - O 
OhO 


c 


X 

O 


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3 O 
ft 

tj 

S * 3 
£ 0 * 


03 


P 3 
~ +J 
Ph ot 


Abington Township ...... 

Ambler Borough . 

Bridgeport Borough . 

Bryn Athyn Borough. 

Cheltenham Township . 

Collegeville Borough . 

Conshohocken Borough .... 

Douglass Township . 

East Greenville Borough . . 
East Norriton Township . . . 

Franconia Township . 

Frederick Township . 

Greenlane Borough . 

Ilatboro Borough . 

Hatfield Borough . 

Hatfield Township . 

Horsham Township . 

Jenkintown Borough . 

Lansdale Borough . 

Limerick Township . 

Lower Frederick . 

Lower Gwynedd Township . . 
Lower Merion Township.... 
Lower Moreland Township . 
Lower Pottsgrove Township. 
Lower Providence Township. 
Lower Salford Township . . 

Marlboro Township . 

Montgomery Township 

Narberth Borough . 

New Hanover Township . . . 

Norristown Borough. 

North Wales Borough 

Pennsburg Borough . 

Perkiomen Township . 

Plymouth Township . 

Pottstown Borough. 

Red Hill Borough . 

Rockledge Borough . 


632 

$ 14 , 033,590 

$ 7 , 154,390 

457 

2 , 364,600 

436,995 

673 

2 , 457,310 

87,650 

49 

553,865 

2 , 453,800 

1,075 

17 , 899,810 

32 , 183,040 

90 

601,500 

179,675 

1,102 

4 , 272,695 

671,355 

197 

877,005 

232,350 

241 

836,045 

258,180 

89 

661,000 

185,360 

211 

150 

1 , 098,480 

241,260 

52 

209,580 

39,275 

120 

805,520 

288,430 

125 

635,010 

130,405 

230 

1 , 472,050 

318,580 

142 

1 , 507,570 

643,130 

546 

3 , 047,210 

2 , 106,695 

677 

2 , 383,055 

1 , 112,710 

364 

1 , 530,150 

252,525 

• • • • 

569,345 

69,440 

79 

1 , 838,250 

1 , 794,180 

1,963 

41 , 151,925 

71 , 573,515 

96 

1 , 526,475 

362,500 

120 

622,450 

127,320 

166 

1 , 704,625 

243,300 

245 

1 , 184,180 

469,595 

107 

592,190 

83,310 

100 

742,865 

215,575 

303 

3 , 359,175 

648,170 

161 

802,135 

169,155 

4,348 

21 , 004,135 

12 , 476,150 

299 

1 , 217,250 

391,405 

172 

763,415 

225,630 

71 

474,450 

60,590 

252 

2 , 871,320 

351,450 

2,753 

11 , 757,075 

3 , 341,705 

139 

408,095 

126,070 

143 

1 , 145,370 

152,435 

































TOWNSHIP STATISTICS 145 


Hoyersford Borough . 

Salford Township . 

Schwenksville Borough .... 

Skippack Township . 

Souderton Borough . 

Springfield Township . 

Towamencin Township 

Trappe Borough . 

Upper Dublin Township .... 

Upper Frederick . 

Upper Gwynedd Township. 
Upper Hanover Township.. 
Upper Merion Township .. 
Upper Moreland Township. 
Upper Pottsgrove Township 
Upper Providence Township 
Upper Salford Township . . 
West Conshohocken Borough 
West Norriton Township . . 
West Pottsgrove Township.. 
West Telford Borough 
Whitemarsh Township .... 

Whitpain Township . 

Worcester Township . 


457 

1 , 714,590 

1 , 109,430 

83 

386,040 

120,050 

52 

308,900 

206,350 

177 

1 , 035,505 

143,930 

473 

1 , 947,735 

722,435 

429 

5 , 710,205 

3 , 233,870 

107 

799,970 

186,550 

43 

347,475 

87,415 

243 

3 , 387,975 

2 , 757,310 

... 

461,620 

130,040 

210 

1 , 291,665 

245,625 

211 

954,325 

196,810 

121 

4 , 376,535 

575,555 

271 

1 , 995,400 

490,770 

67 

217,110 

58,380 

287 

1 , 720,840 

270,855 

105 

473,915 

101,600 

355 

928,035 

46,900 

165 

1 , 694,170 

233,140 

150 

774,385 

35,290 

160 

458,980 

89,015 

665 

3 , 394,820 

991,720 

141 

1 , 837,875 

638,820 

200 

1 , 150,665 

1 , 279,500 



Reproduction of 

HOSPITAL HUT, VALLEY FORGE 
occupied during the winter of 
1777-1778, built on original 



















146 


STATISTICS 


TABLE V- 

-Road Expenses 







T3 

etc. 

0) 

a 5 
o w 

* g 

4-> 

'■d 

c 

a 4_> 

w 

CO <D 

05 

O o 

05« 

i- 

« 5 
c 

-*-> o 
^ c c 

ggg 

««s 

Fees, 

$ 42 

CQ S 

c 

03^ 

9 c 

H-l h-1 

Ctf ^ 
ft 

0) pi 

tf W 

p (- 
^ E ft 

DOC 


Douglass . 

Franconia . 

Frederick . 

Hatfield . 

Horsham . 

Limerick. 

Lower Gwynedd. .. 
Lower Pottsgrove. 
Lower Providence. 
Lower Salford. . . . 

Marlborough. 

Montgomery. 

Lower Moreland.. 
New Hanover. . . . 

Perkiomen. 

Plymouth. 

Salford.. 

Skippack. 

Towamencin. 

Upper Dublin. 

Upper Gwynedd. .. 
Upper Hanover... 
Upper Merion.... 
Upper Providence. 
Upper Pottsgrove. 
Unper Salford.... 
West Norriton.... 
West Pottsgrove.. 

Whitemarsh. 

Whitpain. 

W orcester. 

Abington. 

Cheltenham. 

Springfield. 


$ 317 . 

.48 

$. 


$ 1 , 079 , 

.34 

$ 3 , 726 , 

.85 

$ 5,747 

.20 

495 , 

.44 

5 , 980 , 

.23 



2 , 198 , 

.53 

2,060 

.62 

220 

.06 





1 , 724 , 

.13 

3,019 

.40 

381 . 

.79 

8 , 458 , 

.10 

1,587 

.84 

522 , 

.27 

808 , 

.70 

475 . 

.24 

1 , 948 , 

.79 

4,850 

.30 

1 , 564 , 

.95 

779 , 

.06 

933 . 

.49 

1 , 729 . 

.57 

19 , 597 , 

.00 

2 , 213 , 

.00 

5 , 310 . 

,69 

663 , 

.06 

10,985 

.36 



670 , 

.00 

11 . 

.75 

243 

.30 





300 , 

.55 

5 , 575 , 

.25 

467 . 

.18 

8 , 552 , 

.71 

9,935 

.69 

1 , 043 . 

,41 

161 . 

.75 

227 

.05 





1 , 516 , 

.99 

3 , 934 , 

.15 

252 , 

.58 



952 , 

.82 

274 . 

.12 

4 , 842 . 

.50 

190 . 

.64 

2,952 

.49 

1 , 601 , 

.50 

316 , 

.20 



602 , 

.34 

6 , 820 , 

.93 

375 , 

.00 

985 . 

.79 

3 , 441 . 

,68 

384 . 

,93 



2 , 525 . 

,41 

4 , 294 . 

00 

3 , 141 . 

17 

112 

.99 





903 , 

.09 

1 , 680 . 

.79 

270 , 

.00 





172 , 

,10 

1 , 347 . 

.00 

189 . 

.55 

1 , 325 , 

.73 

1 , 833 , 

.00 

1,317 

.14 

426 

.31 

360 

.11 



3,097 

.56 

1,243 

.65 

8,572 

.13 

246 . 

.28 

1 , 130 . 

,92 

1 , 025 , 

.67 

866 . 

20 

3 , 235 . 

.99 

1 , 094 . 

.32 



7 , 500 , 

.00 

5 , 071 . 

.39 

5 , 160 . 

,86 

757 . 

.95 

1,521 

.30 

1 , 153 , 

.90 

4 , 189 . 

.40 

45 , 

.00 

407 . 

.04 





2 , 701 . 

,64 

5 , 920 . 

.16 

700 . 

,17 

13 , 472 . 

.36 

1 , 215 , 

.75 

301 . 

,35 

375 . 

,85 

516 . 

,21 

2 , 085 . 

42 

10 , 922 . 

,35 

943 . 

39 

13 , 152 . 

99 

94 . 

,06 



249 . 

,60 

1 , 544 . 

.00 

145 . 

64 

252 . 

00 





1 , 353 . 

,79 

3 , 361 . 

.68 

803 . 

.49 

4,741 

.43 

3,157 

.83 

354 , 

.35 

9,625 

.70 

341 . 

,52 





377 . 

60 

3 , 037 . 

,26 

1 , 368 . 

15 

3 , 510 . 

50 

1 , 394 . 

,33 

171 . 

,75 

20 , 798 . 

96 

531 . 

,04 



1 , 046 . 

,32 

75 . 

00 

7 , 584 . 

22 

410 . 

.20 

3 , 572 . 

62 

4 , 907 . 

,58 

1 , 916 . 

,87 

4 , 511 . 

.58 



















































STATISTICS 


147 


Douglass . 

Franconia . 

Frederick . 

Hatfield . 

Horsham . 

Limerick.. 

Lower Gwynedd.... 
Lower Pottsgiove.. 
Lower Providence. . 

Lower Salford. 

Marlborough. 

Montgomery. 

Lower Moreland. . . . 

New Hanover. 

Perkiomen. 

Plymouth. 

Salford. 

Skippack. 

Towamencin. 

Upper Dublin. 

Upper Gwynedd. . . . 
Upper Hanover. . . . 

Upper Merion. 

Upper Providence.. 
Upper Pottsgrove.. 

Upper Salford. 

West Norriton. 

West Pottsgrove... 

Whitemarsh. 

Whitpain. 

Worcester. 

Abington. 

Cheltenham. 

Springfield. 




>» 

S~ 

<L> 

c 

•H 

43 

v 

03 

s 


co 

u 

<v 

< 4-1 4-> 

O CO 

a 

& -S 

g O 


c *2-0 
° c 
cs 


cs 

> 

o 


CO 
£ 

2 c o 
Xi ai c 

Otf CO 


CO 

3 

8 

c 

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o 

CO 

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s 


CO 

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03 

O 

03 

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> 

o 

t- 

0 . 

£ 

c 

D 


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O 

03 

T 3 

O ) 

> 

o 

L. 

ft 

E 
—* 


66.74 $ 

801.50 $ 

.$ 120.49 

61.1 

• • • • 

752.45 

601.75 

126.50 

311.08 

62.5 

10.5 

14.90 

1 , 110.65 

41.45 

217.76 

35 

25 

59.17 

459.81 

15.50 

244.11 

20 

23 

478.55 

609.00 

275.50 


39 

18 

68.22 

1 , 669.40 

194.15 

304.83 

54 

22 

1 , 262.81 


159.90 

651.71 

20 

28 

620.00 

384.40 

36.90 

345.94 

10 

25 

13.23 

1 , 040.00 

10.05 

247.74 

25.7 

22.5 

72.51 

646.50 

47.23 

256.69 

64 

6 


133.85 

51.25 


40 

• • • • 

8.80 

479.62 

96.25 

201.39 

15 

12.7 

245.23 

123.00 

138.50 

29.04 

140 

9.5 

16.70 

676.86 

134.00 

27.50 

40 

31 

6.74 

238.35 

26.70 

148.82 

15 

6 

25.85 

1 , 237.50 

48.50 

310.23 

25 

23 

152.90 

184.73 

87.69 


31 

7 

497.21 

695.04 

27.69 

454.46 

42.3 

8 

194.39 


19.58 

997.29 

28 

11 

1 , 763.60 

1 , 820.00 



10 

32.6 

19.78 

378.75 

40.40 

583.17 

18.1 

10.7 

624.11 

1 , 356.56 

70.77 

253.37 

58 

20.6 

45.75 

2 , 297.50 


219.86 

10 

46.6 

347.93 

916.45 

27.50 

317.56 

36 

23 

14.69 

249.45 

74.10 

170.92 

18 

.... 

218.78 

853.05 

49.65 

36.50 

27.8 

4.8 

31.59 

128.80 


4 , 532.40 

16 

17.3 

4.15 

183.22 

48.00 

139.52 

3.4 

6.4 

382.00 

1 , 805.71 

53.12 


5.5 

37 

45.00 

817.10 

122.40 


4.4 

28 

340.56 

886.30 

30.46 


50 

14 



36 , 454.87 

36 

72 




71 , 056.00 

13.5 

14 




21 , 245.74 

5 

28 





















































148 


STATISTICS 


TABLE VI—Dealers Paying Mercantile Taxes 



Retail Dealers 

Eating Houses 

Abington . 


1 

Ambler . 


5 

Bridgeport . 

71 

2 

Cheltenham. 

97 

5 

Collegeville . 

20 

2 

Conshohocken . 

193 

4 

Douglass . 

28 

1 

East Greenville . 

45 

1 

Franconia . 



Frederick . 

43 

5 

Greenlane . 



Gwynedd . 



Hatboro . 


1 

Hatfield Borough . 

21 

2 

Hatfield Townsliip . 

6 


Horsham . 



Jenkintown .. 


3 

Lansdale . 


5 

Limerick . 


4 

Lower Gwvnedd . 



Lower Merion . 

166 

7 

Lower Pottsgrove . 

17 

2 

Lower Providence . 

18 

2 

Lower Salford . 

23 

1 

Marlborough . 


1 

Montgomery . 



Moreland . 


6 

Narberth .. 



New Hanover . 



Norristown . 


33 

Norriton . 



North Wales . 


i 

Pennsburg . 


3 

Perkiomen . 


1 

Plymouth . 



Pottstown . 


16 

Red Hill . 


1 

Rockledge . 



Royersford . 


3 


<D 

tfl 

•r> 

— V 


1 

2 

3 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 


2 


43 


40 


le 

13 c$ 

a; a; 

££ Q 


7 

4 
2 
6 
2 

5 
2 
1 

2 

1 


1 

11 

8 

1 

1 

16 

1 

2 


1 

3 
1 
1 

52 

1 

4 


15 


T? n 
c £ 
o 

O 

.3 —c 
— "s 
~ o 
M Oh 


1 
5 
4 
4 
• • 
10 
1 
1 
1 


1 

1 


1 

3 

2 

i 


1 

1 

20 

i 


1 

7 


2 














































STATISTICS 


149 


Salford . 

9 

1 

, , 

1 


Schwenksville . 

17 

1 

l 

1 


Skippack . 

13 

a a 

# • 

1 


Souderton . 

67 

4 

4 

6 

i 

Springfield . 

40 

2 

• • 

2 


Towamencin. 

14 

1 

2 

• • 


Trappe . 

9 


. . 

• • 


Upper Dublin . 

16 


, # 

• • 


Upper Gwynedd . 

15 


2 

• • 

i 

Upper Hanover . 

18 

i 

, , 

• • 


Upper Merion . 

22 


, , 

2 


Upper and West Pottsgrove. 

28 


, . 

, , 

i 

Upper Providence . 

28 

i 

2 

1 


Upper Salford . 

13 


1 

1 


West Conshohocken . 

25 


# m 

2 

2 

West Telford . 

21 

i 

1 

1 

JL 


Whitemarsh . 

34 

3 

1 

# m 

i 

Whitpain . 

16 

, , 

, , 

, # 


Worcester . 

12 

• • • 

• • 

• • 


























CHAPTER IX 

BIOGRAPHY 

SOME OF THE NOTEWORTHY MEN 

AARON, SAMUEL, 1800-1865, born in Bucks county; entered 
ministry, 1828; Norristown pastor, 1841; principal of Tree- 
mount Seminary, 1844-1859; great temperance advocate; died 
at Mounty Holly, N. J., 1865. 



JOHN J. AUDUBON (1780-1851) 

ACKER, E. L., 1827-1904, born in Marlborough, publisher, post¬ 
master of Norristown, superintendent of public schools of 
county; member of Congress. 

ALBRIGHT, REV. JACOB, 1759-1808, born in Fox Hill, Potts- 
grove township; moved to Lancaster county; tilemaker; 
founded Evangelical church, 1796. 

ANTES, FREDERICK, 1730-1801, son of Henry; earnest patriot 
and colonel in Revolutionary War; Pa. Assembly, 1776; iron 




BIOGRAPHY 


151 


founder who cast first four-pounder pieces in America; office 
holder in Northumberland county, where he died. 

ANTES, HENRY, 1701-1755, immigrant; “the pious farmer, 
teacher, Reformed layman of Frederick;” manager of secular 
affairs of Moravian church, 1745-1750. 

ANTES, JOHN, 1740, son of Henry; watchmaker; missionary in 
Egypt; pastor in Bristol, England, where he died. 

APPLE, JOHN D., 1808-1852, born in New York; prominent 
scholar; surveyor and justice of the peace, Marlborough town¬ 
ship. 

AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES, 1780-1851,born in Louisiana; resident 
of Lower Providence; great naturalist; went to England to 
publish his book, “The Birds of America;” died in New York. 

AUGE, MOSES, 1811-1898, born in Delaware; resided in Norris¬ 
town; writer, historian, editor, publisher. 

BEAN, THEODORE W., COL., 1833-1891, blacksmith by trade; 
officer in Civil War, 1862-1865; admitted to bar, 1869; Pa. 
Legislature, 1889; scholar, historian, editor of history of 
county. 

BOEHM, REV. JOHN PHILIP, immigrant 1720, died 1749; or¬ 
ganizer of Reformed churches; resided in Whitpain; buried at 
Boehm’s church, which he founded. 

BOILEAU, HON. N. B., 1763-1850; Princeton, 1788; Pa. Assem¬ 
bly, eight years; speaker, 1808; secretary of Commonwealth, 
nine years; resident of Hatboro. 

BOMBERGER, REV. J. H. A., D. D., 1817-1890, born in Lancaster 
county; graduate of Marshall College; founder and for twenty 
years president of Ursinus College. 

BOSSERT, HENRY M., 1825- , born in county; Colonel in 

Civil War; resident and office-holder, Clinton county. 

BOYER, HON. B. M., 1823-1867, born in New Hanover; Univ. of 
Pa.; House of Representatives, four years. 

BRINGHURST, W. A., -1876, Trappe; Pa. Legislature; created 

by will trust fund for benefit of poor. 

BUCK, WILLIAM J., 1825-1901; born in Bucks county, resident 
of Hatboro; prominent historian and writer. 

BULL, JOHN, 1731-1824, resident of Limerick and Norriton; col¬ 
onel in Revolutionary War; Pa. Assembly, 1778; moved to 
Berkeley county, Va. 

BURNSIDE, THOMAS, born in Lower Providence, moved to Belle- 
fonte; Pa. Legislature, 1815, 1817; judge, Montgomery county 
court, 1841-1845; judge of Supreme Court. 


152 


BIOGRAPHY 


CASSATT, ALEXANDER JOHNSTON, Lower Merion, 1839-1906; 
president Pennsylvania Railroad Company: “Whose foresight, 
courage and ability achieved the extension of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad system into New York City.” 



ALEXANDER JOHNSTON CASSATT 
Statue in Pennsylvania Station 
New York City 

CASSEL, ABRAHAM H., 1820-1908. Lower Salford; antiquarian 
and book collector. 

CLARK, CHARLES HEBER, Conshohocken, 1841-1915, born in 
Berlin, Md.; journalist, 1865; publisher of industrial journal; 
secretary of Manufacturers’ Club, Phila., ten years; author 
under pseudonym, Max Adeler. 








BIOGRAPHY 


153 


CONRAD, HON. FREDERICK, —1827, resident of Worcester 
and Norristown; Pa. Assembly, 1798-1800; House of Rep., 
1803-1806; prothonotary and clerk of courts. 

COOKE, JA^ , 1821-1905, born in Ohio; banker of Philadelphia, 
financier of Civil War; fiscal agent of Northern Pacific Rail¬ 
road; resided at Ogontz. 

CORSON, ALAN W., 1787-1882, Plymouth; teacher, surveyor, 
nurseryman, botanist. 

CORSON, HIRAM, 1804-1896, Plymouth; eminent physician, 
writer and reformer. 



ABRAHAM H. CASSEL (1820-1908) 

CORSON, JOSEPH, 1764-1834, born in Bucks county; prominent 
farmer and merchant, Hickorytown. Father of Alan W; 
Mary, whose son became U. S. Consul in Brazil; Joseph, 
whose son became Professor at Cornell; George, merchant; 
Hiram and William, doctors. 

CORSON, JOSEPH K., 1836-1913, Plymouth; Univ. Pa. Medical, 
1863; noted army surgeon. 

CRAIG, THOMAS, 1740-1832, born in Northampton county; col¬ 
onel in Revolutionary War; appointed first associate judge, 
prothonotary, clerk of courts and recorder of deeds of county. 




154 


BIOGRAPHY 


CRUIKSHANK, REV. ROBERT, 1821-1901, born in Ireland; 
grad. Union Col., N. Y., and Princeton Theol. Sem.; minister; 
superintendent of public schools, Montgomery county; teacher; 
college and university president; died in Colorado. 

DERR, FRANKLIN, 1815-1877, born in Hamburg, Berks county, 
resident of Norristown; extensive dealer in dressed stone. 

DOCK, CHRISTOPHER, immigrant, died 1771; noted teacher of 
Skippack, Salford, and Germantown; author of first book on 
teaching published in America. 

DODD, ROBERT J., 1809-1876, Lower Merion; grad. Jeff. Med. 
Col.; noted army surgeon. 

DOTTERER, HENRY S., 1841-1903, born in Frederick town¬ 
ship, died in Philadelphia; historian and genealogist. 

EVANS, ROWLAND, 1728-1789, Pa. Assembly; trustee, General 
Loan Office. 

FARMAR, EDWARD, 1672-1745, immigrant from England; ex¬ 
tensive landholder in Whitemarsh; justice of the peace; 
Indian interpreter. 

FETTEROLF, ADAM H., 1841-1909, born in Upper Providence; 
teacher, Freeland Seminary; vice-president and president, 
Girard College. 1882-1909. 

FORNANCE, JOSEPH, 1804-1852, Lower Merion, House of Rep., 
1838, 1840. 

FORTMAN, CHARLES, grad. German university; a teacher of 
languages and music; introduced use of piano forte. 

FRY, HON. JACOB, JR., 1802-1866, Trappe; teacher; prothono- 
tary and clerk of courts; House of Rep., 1834-1838; Pa. Legis¬ 
lature, 1853-54; auditor general, 1857-1860. 

FRY, REV. DR. JACOB, 1834-1920, born at Trappe; grad. Union 
Col., N. Y., 1853; noted teacher, preacher, and author. 

FUNK, HENRY, immigrant, died 1760; miller, bishop, author of 
two books; supervised with Dillman Kolb, translation of noted 
Ephrata Martyrbook from the Dutch. 

FURLEY, BENJAMIN, 1636—1714, English merchant; resident of 
Rotterdam; scholar, author; agent of William Penn on the 
continent. 

GRAEME, DR. THOMAS, 1688-1772, born in Scotland; migrated 
with Sir William Keith, whose stepdaughter he married; jus¬ 
tice of the Supreme Court; bought Graeme Park 848 acres, 
which had been the property of Sir William Keith. 


BIOGRAPHY 


155 


GROSS, SAMUEL, 1774-1844, Upper Providence; Pa. Legisla¬ 
ture, 1803-1807; Pa. Senate, 1811-1815; House of Rep., 1818— 
1820. 

GUMMERE, JOHN, 1783-1845, Willow Grove; author of text¬ 
books on surveying and astronomy; conducted classical and 
mathematical school at Burlington, N. J. 

GUMMERE, SAMUEL R., 1789-1818, brother of John; Horsham; 
author of school books. 

HAMILL, ROBERT, immigrant from Ireland; Norristown mer¬ 
chant; father of an illustrious family of ministers and 
teachers. 

HANCOCK, W. S., 1824-1880, born in Montgomery township; 
grad. West Point; served in Mexican War; Brigadier- 
General in Civil War; Presidential Nominee, 1880. 



WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 
(1824-1880) 


HARMER, JOSIAH, Perkiomen-Skippack, successor of Washing¬ 
ton as Commander-in-Chief of the American Army; led army 
against the Miami Indians. 

HARTRANFT, CHESTER DAVID, 1839-1914, born in Frederick 
township; grad. Univ. Pa., 1861, and New Brunswick, N. J., 
• Theol. Sem., 1864; pastor; professor, 1879-1903, president, 
1888-1903, and honorary president, 1903 to death, of Hartford 
Theological Seminary; editor-in-chief of Corpus Schwenkfeld- 


lanorum. 





15G 


BIOGRAPHY 


HARTRANFT, JOHN FREDERICK, 1830-1889, born in New 
Hanover; grad. Union Col., 1853; major-general in Civil War; 
auditor-general of State, two terms; governor of State, 1873- 
1879; postmaster and collector of port, Philadelphia; resident 
of Norristown. 



JOHN FREDERICK HARTRANFT 
(1830-1889) 

GOVERNOR (1873-1879) 


HIESTER, DANIEL, JOHN and JOSEPH, residents of Goshen- 
hoppen; latter two moved to Berks county; Daniel, 1713-1795, 
resided near Sumneytown; of his sons, Daniel was officer in 
Revolutionary War, member of Congress from Pa. and 
Maryland; John, officer in Revolutionary War, and Pa. Senate 
1802-1806 from Chester county; Gabriel, officer in Revolution¬ 
ary War, Pa. Assembly, 1778-1790, except two or three years, 
House of Rep., 1791, 1802-1804; Pa. Senate, 1795-6, 1805- 
1812; William enlisted in Revolutionary War, but served in 
one campaign only. 

HITE, HANS JOOST, immigrant, New York, 1710, Germantown, 
1716; landowner Perkiomen-Skippack, 1717-1732; moved to 
Bartonville, Va., prominent landholder, colonizer and ancestor 
of leading Virginia families. 

HOOVER, HIRAM C.,1822-1911, musician; held various local 
offices; Pa. Assembly, 1862-1864; associate judge ten years. 



BIOGRAPHY 


157 


HOVENPEN, THOMAS, 1840-1895, born in Ireland; resident of 
Plymouth; painter of “Breaking Home Ties”; lost his life 
trying to save the life of a little girl at an unguarded rail¬ 
road crossing. 

HUFF, GEORGE F., born 1842 in Norristown; banker, interested 
in coke and coal industries; resident of Greensburg. 

HUNSICKER, REV. ABRAHAM, 1793-1872, Mennonite bishop; 
organized Freeland Seminary, which became Ursinus College; 
helped to organize Pennsylvania Female College. 

JENKINS, HOWARD M., 1842-1902, Gwynedd; author and edi¬ 
tor. 

JONES, MALACHI, 1651-1729, first pastor of Abington Presby¬ 
terian church, 1714-1729, which erected first Presbyterian 
church of the county. 

KEITH, SIR WILLIAM, 1669 or ’70-1749, horn in Scotland; gov¬ 
ernor of Pennsylvania, 1717-1726; built Graeme Park, 1722; 
returned to England, where he died. 

KRATZ, HENRY W., 1834-1917, born in Perkiomen township; 
public school teacher; justice of the peace, 1862; clerk of State 
Senate, 1866-1867; recorder of deeds, 1883-1886; Pa. Legis¬ 
lature, 1894; moved to Norristown, 1889. 

KRAUSE, DAVID, 1800-1871, born in Lebanon; private secretary 
to Governor Shulze; editor; deputy attorney-general, 1829; 
Pa. Legislature, 1835; judge, Montgomery county, 1845-1851. 

KRAUTH, CHARLES PORTERFIELD, REV., 1823-1883; grad. 
Pa. Col., Gettysburg, of which his father was president; or¬ 
dained 1842; pastor, professor, editor, author of books, vice¬ 
provost of Univ. of Pa.. 

KRAUTH, CHARLES PHILIP, 1797-1867, son of organist of Six- 
Cornered church, Charles J. Krauth and wife, Catharine, a 
member of congregation; licensed to preach, 1819; professor 
Pa. Col., 1833; president of Pa. Col., 1834-1851. 

LAY, BENJAMIN, 1677-1759, cave dweller; published, 1737, book 
against slavery. 

LEECH, RICHARD T., 1775-1850, born in Cheltenham; Pa. Legis¬ 
lature, 1809-1813; surveyor-general, 1813-1818; moved to 
Pittsburgh, where he died. 

LEECH, TOBY, native of Cheltenham, England, one of the 
earliest settlers of Cheltenham. 


158 


BIOGRAPHY 


LEGAUX, PETER, born in France, 1743, migrated, 1785; scien¬ 
tific student, contributor to magazines, and tried to introduce 
grape culture for the manufacture of wine. Died at his home 
at Spring Mill, 1828. 



JOSEPH LEIDY (1823-1891) 

LEIDY, JOSEPH, son of Philip Leidy of Hatfield township; born 
in 1823, died 1891. A world renowned scientist; from a broken 
tooth he depicted correctly the entire form of an extinct rhinoc¬ 
eros. 

LOCH, JOHN W., born in Worcester, 1830; grad. Univ. of Pa., a 
noted teacher of Norristown. 






































BIOGRAPHY 


159 


LOLLER, COL. ROBERT, Scotch-Irish, born 1740, died 1808; 
teacher, soldier, statesman, associate judge, recorder and reg¬ 
ister, founder by will of Loller Academy, resident of Moreland. 

LOWE, PROF. T. S. C., born 1832, in New Hampshire, distin¬ 
guished aeronaut and scientific inventor; moved to Norristown, 
1871. 

LUKENS, ISAIAH, 1779-1864, born in Horsham, son of John; 
made clocks of Loller Academy and State House, Philadelphia; 
one of founders of Franklin Institute; died in Philadelphia. 

LUKENS JOHN, Horsham; mathematician and philosopher; sur¬ 
veyor-general, 1761-1769; assisted Rittenhouse in observing 
transit of Venus, 1769; one of four commissioners to run 
boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, 1784-1785; 
laid out towns of Sunbury and Bedford. 

McCREEDY, BERNARD, born in Ireland 1775, resided in Phila¬ 
delphia, died 1846. One of the builders and proprietors, 1840, 
of the cotton factory at the foot of Swede street, Norristown. 

MEDARY (MADEIRA) SAMUEL, born in Montgomery Square, 
F'ebruary 25, 1801, of Quaker ancestry; educated at Norris¬ 
town Academy; newspaper editor and publisher in Ohio; 
prominent politician, being called the “Wheelhorse of Ohio 
Democracy”; member of both branches of the Ohio Legisla¬ 
ture; postmaster of Columbus; Governor of Minnesota, 1857- 
58, and of Kansas, 1859-60; died in Columbus, Ohio, Novem¬ 
ber 7, 1864. 

MENAN, PATRICK, born in Ireland 1711, resident of White- 
marsh; teacher, surveyor, and conveyancer; the teacher of 
Andrew Porter and David Rittenhouse. 

MILES, SAMUEL, born 1740, died 1805, a member of the Pa. 
Assembly, 1805; lived in Spring Mill; moved to Cheltenham, 
1792. 

MITTELBERGER, GOTTLIEB, brought organs from Germany; 
organist and teacher at Trappe, 1750-1754. Returned to Ger¬ 
many. 

MOORE, NICHOLAS, born in London, migrated to Pennsylvania, 
1682; acquired the Manor of Moreland of ten thousand acres, 
1684; president of “The Free Society of Traders in Pennsyl¬ 
vania”; speaker of the first provincial assembly held at Ches¬ 
ter, December, 1682; first chief justice of Pennsylvania. 


160 


BIOGRAPHY 


MOTT, LUCRETIA, born in Massachusetts, Nantucket Island, 
1793; school teacher in Philadelphia; married Jacob Mott; 
resided in Cheltenham; prominent life-long 1 worker in the 
cause of Anti-Slavery and Woman’s Rights. 

MUHLENBERG, HON. FRANCIS AUGUSTUS, born in Upper 
Providence, 1750; died 1802; son of Rev. Henry Melchior 
Muhlenberg; graduate of Halle; preached in New York City; 
took part in the Revolutionary War; judge; register and re¬ 
corder of Montgomery county; member and first speaker of 
the House of Representatives, Washington. 

MUHLENBERG, REV. HENRY ERNEST, born in Upper Provi¬ 
dence, 1753, died 1815. Son of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlen¬ 
berg, Lutheran Minister, noted botanist and scientist. 

MUHLENBERG, REV. HENRY MELCHIOR, born in Germany, 
1711, migrated 1742; pastor at Philadelphia and at Trappe. 
Married Anna, daughter of Conrad Weiser, father of the 
Lutheran Church in the United States; died 1787. 

MUHLENBERG, GENERAL PETER, born in Upper Providence, 
1746, son of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg; studied at Halle, 
preached at Woodstock, Virginia; became a general in the 
Revolutionary War; legislator, collector of Port of Philadel¬ 
phia. 

NORRIS, ISAAC, born in London, 1671, died 1736; migrated to 
Philadelphia, member of the Governor’s Council, and speaker 
of Assembly, justice of the county, mayor of Philadelphia, 
joint purchaser, 1704, with Col. William Trent, and later sole 
owner of Manor Williamstaedt, later Norriton township, 1730. 

PAWLING, LEVI, born 1772, died 1845; House of Rep., 1817-19; 
filled a great number of public positions; resided in Norris¬ 
town. 

PENNEBECKER, HEINRICH, born 1674, died 1754; prominent 
German surveyor, and ancestor of an illustrious family, in¬ 
cluding the late Samuel W. Pennypacker. 

PENNYPACKER, SAMUEL WHITTAKER, born in Phoenixville, 
1843; died at Schwenksville, 1917; admitted to bar, 
1866; appointed as judge, 1889; twice elected for term of ten 
years; filled various positions of honor; governor, 1903-1907; 
author, historian, reformer. 

PORTER, GENERAL ANDREW, bor# 1743, died 1813; served in 
the Revolutionary War, surveyor general, father of Governor 
David R. Porter of Pennsylvania, General James M. Porter, 
and Governor George B. Porter, of Michigan. 


BIOGRAPHY 


161 


PORTER, GOVERNOR DAVID R., born 1788, son of General 
Andrew Porter; iron manufacturer, member of the Penna. 
Assembly, 1821; member of Pa. State Senate, 1882; Governor 
of Pa., 1839-1845; died in Harrisburg, 1867. 

PORTER, ROBERT, born in Ireland, 1698; resided in Worcester 
and Whitpain townships, buried at Norriton Presbyterian 
Church, ancestor of an illustrious family. 



SAMUEL WHITTAKER PENNYPACKER 
(1843-1917) 

Governor (1903-1907) 


POTTS, JOHN, oldest son of Thomas, the immigrant, born 1710; 
enterprising speculator in iron works; founder of Pottstown, 
1752-53; built noted mansion on Manatawny; died 1768. Of his 
children: Thomas was interested in iron business, held public 
office and was a colonel in Revolutionary War; Samuel was 
engaged in iron business and held public office; John was judge 
of courts, became loyalist, was deprived of property by con¬ 
fiscation, moved to Nova Scotia, later returned to states; Jo¬ 
seph, a Philadelphia merchant and minister among Society of 
Friends; Jonathan, an eminent physician; Isaac, interested in 
iron works at Valley Forge; James, an eminent attorney; 
Martha married Thomas Ritter, son of Thomas, interested in 
iron business; Anna married her cousin, David Potts, inter¬ 
ested also in iron business, and Rebecca married Dr. Benjamin 
Duffield. 


162 


BIOGRAPHY 


RALSTON, JAMES GRIER, D. D., LL.D., died 1880; founder 
and principal of Oakland Female Institute, Norristown, 1845. 

REYNOLDS, JOHN, born in Montgomery county, 1789, migrated 
to Illinois prior to 1818; Illinois State Supreme Court, 1818- 
26; State Legislature, 1826-30; Governor, 1830-34; later mem¬ 
ber of Congress, and Speaker of House, Illinois Legislature, 
advocate of internal improvements, historical writer, died 
1865. 



DAVID R. PORTER 
(1788-1867) 

Governor (1838-1845) 

RICHARDS, GEORGE, born in New Hanover, 1788, died 1873; 
member of the State Senate, 1846. Justice of the peace many 
years. 

RITTENHOUSE, DAVID, born 1732, died 1795; son of Matthias, 
farmer, clockmaker, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, 
State treasurer, a member of the committee to survey Mason 
and Dixon Line, first director of the United States Mint. Ob¬ 
served the transit of Venus, 1769, at his observatory in Wor¬ 
cester township. 

READ, UOUIS WERNWAG, born 1828; graduate of medicine in 
the University of Pennsylvania, 1849; eminent physician and 
army surgeon; died 1900. 

REED, JACOB, born 1730, died 1820; resided in Hatfield town¬ 
ship, colonel in the Revolutionary War. 

ROBERTS, GEORGE B., born 1833, died 1897; president of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 1880-1897, resident of Bala. 



BIOGRAPHY 


163 


ROBERTS, JONATHAN, HON., born 1771, died 1854. Pa. Assem¬ 
bly, 1798-99 and 1823; Pa. Senate, 1807; House of Rep., 
Washington, 1811-1813, and of the United States Senate, 
1814; collector of customs, Philadelphia, 1841. Resided in 
Lower Merion. 



DAVID RITTENHOUSE (1732-1795) 

ROTHERMEL, PETER F., born in Luzerne county, 1817, dis¬ 
tinguished artist and painter, resided in later life in Limerick 
township; died 1895. Painter of “Battle of Gettysburg.” 

ROYER, HON. JOSEPH, born at Trappe, 1784; Pa. Assembly, 
1821-22; associate judge; candidate for Congress. His sons, 
Horace and Lewis, became Pennsylvania State Senators. 




164 


BIOGRAPHY 


RUTTER, THOMAS, the first European to manufacture 

iron from ore in America on the Manatawny. 

ST. CLAIR, ARTHUR, born in Scotland 1734, died in Westmore¬ 
land county, Pennsylvania; surveyor and agent of the Penns; 
a most enthusiastic patriot during the Revolution; governor 
of the Northwest Territory with headquarters at Marietta, 
Ohio; for a time a resident of Pottstown, having purchased 
the confiscated property of John Potts. 

SCIIALL, WILLIAM, born in Oley, Berks county, 1812, operated 
the Greenlane Forge, 1833 to 1848, when he moved to Norris¬ 
town. Five of his sons volunteered their services in the Civil 
War: Reuben, Edwin, Edward, David and Calvin. 

SCHLATTER, MICHAEL, born in Switzerland, 1716; sent to 
America as a missionary, and organized the German Reformed 
Synod, 1747; superintendent of Charity Schools, 1755-57; 
Chaplain of the American army in expedition to Nova Scotia 
1757. 

SCULL, NICHOLAS, resident of Whitemarsh, Indian interpreter, 
surveyor, map publisher, surveyor general, 1748-1761. Grand¬ 
father of Edward Biddle, member of Pa. Assembly, and 
Speaker of the House of Rep., of Pennsylvania, and member of 
Congress; died 1761. 

SHUNK, FRANCIS RAWN, born near the Trappe, 1788, teacher 
at fifteen, clerk in surveyor-general’s office, soldier in the War 
of 1812, lawyer at twenty-eight, clerk of the House of Rep., 
moved to Pittsburgh, governor 1845-1848, died 1848, and 
buried at the Trappe. 

SIMPSON, JOHN, 1768-1837, of Horsham township, moved to 
Bethel, Clermont county, Ohio, 1818; his daughter, Hannah, 
married Jesse Root Grant, whose son was U. S. Grant. 

SLEMMER, ADAM, born in Philadelphia 1791, member of the 
Pa. Assembly, 1826 to 1830, prothonotary, 1833; editor, 
publisher, and public-spirited citizen; resident of Montgomery 
county, where he died, 1882. 

SLEMMER ADAM, J., born in Frederick township, 1829, gradu¬ 
ate of West Point, 1850; brigadier general in the Civil War; 
defender of Fort Pickens, 1861. 

SMITH, JOHN C., born in Frederick township, 1818, member of 
Pa. Senate, 1861 to 1864; prominent business man. 

SMITH, WILLIAM MOORE, born in Philadelphia, 1759; lawyer; 
owner of the land on which Norristown is located; laid out 
its first streets and lots. 


BIOGRAPHY 


165 


STEEL, ROBERT, born in Ireland, 1794; pastor of the Abington 
Presbyterian Church, 1819 to 1862; noted for the prominent 
men whom he influenced to enter the ministry. 

STERIGERE, J. B., born in Upper Dublin, 1793; member of Pa. 
Assembly, 1821 to 1824; member of the Pa. Senate, 1839 to 
1843; active in the affairs of the borough of Norristown. 



FRANCIS RAWN SIIUNK 
(1788-1848) 

Governor (1844-1848) 

STINSON, MARY ANDERSON born in Norriton, 1819; grad. 
Woman’s Medical College, 1869; assistant physician of the 
State Lunatic Asylum of Massachusetts. 

SUNDERLAND, J. W., born in Exeter, R. I., 1813; grad, of Wes¬ 
leyan Univ., 1836; principal of Freeland Institute, 1848 to 
1851, and of the Montgomery Female Seminary, 1851; died 
1904. 

SUPER, HENRY W., Collegeville, 1824-1897, born, Baltimore, 
Md.'; Marshall College, 1849; entered ministry, 1851; pro¬ 
fessor at Normal School, Kutztown, 1867-70; vice-president 
and professor of mathematics, mechanics, church history, 
Ursinus College and Seminary. 

SUTTON, W. HENRY, born Haddonfield, N. J., 1835; graduate 
of Wesleyan Univ., 1857; member of Pa. Senate, 1882; resident 
of Lower Merion; died 1913. 



166 


BIOGRAPHY 


TAYLOR, JACOB, Abington, school teacher and surveyor gen¬ 
eral, 1706-1733. 

TELNER, JACOB, Mennonite merchant of Crefeld, the connecting 
link between William Penn and the Crefeld congregation. 

THOMSON, CHARLES, born in Ireland, 1730; migrated 1741; 
resident of Lower Merion; called by the Indians “a man of 
truth”; secretary of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789; 
knew inside history of the Revolutionary War, but destroyed 
his records; died 1824, body removed to Laurel Hill cemetery. 

TODD, ROBERT, born in Ireland, migrated 1737, settled in Upper 
Providence; ancestor of the wife of President Lincoln. 

WACK, REV. JOHN G., born, 1776, son of Rev. Caspar Wack; 
pastor at Boehm’s, Wentz and St. Peter’s churches; a classical 
scholar, very fond of music; died 1856. 

WE AND, HENRY K. born at Pottstown, 1838; admitted to the 
Bar, 1860; served in the Civil War; Judge of Montgomery 
county courts, and died 1914. 

WEINBERGER, J. SHELLY, born in Bucks county, 1832; grad, 
of Yale, 1859; professor at Freeland Seminary, 1859 to 
1870; at Ursinus Col., 1870 to 1903; Dean of Ursinus Col., 
1892-1903, died 1917. 

WEISS, REV. GEORGE MICHAEL, an early minister and organ¬ 
izer of the Reformed Church, pastor at New Goshenhoppen, 
died 1763. 

WILSON, HON. J. BIRD, 1777-1859, lawyer, judge, rector, pro¬ 
fessor of systematic theology. 

WOOD, JAMES, 1770-1851, Conshohocken, founder of the iron 
works of Conshohocken. 

YOST, JACOB S., born in Pottsgrove, 1801, member of the Pa. 
Assembly, 1836-1889, and of the House of Rep., Washington, 
1842-1844, died 1872. 

YEAKLE, WILLIAM A., born 1824; resident of Whitemarsh; 
member of the Pennsylvania Senate, 1873; died 1888. 

ZOOK, SAMUEL K., born in Chester County, 1822; resident of 
Valley Forge; pioneer in building telegraph lines; general in 
the Civil War; lost his life in the Battle of Gettysburg. 


CHAPTER X 

HISTORY HIKES 


The 

County 

Seat 


Route—Begin Swede and Main streets, Norristown; 
Main street to Sandy Hill, Marshall, DeKalb, Penn, 
Airy, DeKalb to Basin. From Swede and Main, 
west on Main. Notes based on itinerary prepared, 
1912, by Joseph Fornance, Esq. 

Close by Swede and Main, offices formerly of The Register 
and The Times—the former discontinued, the latter acquired by 
The Herald. Overhead the elevated tracks of the Philadelphia and 
Western Railway, erected 1912, when Norristown celebrated its 
centennial. To left in the public park the soldiers’ monument, 
built in 1869 by private contribution, with names of more than 
five hundred soldiers who enlisted in the Civil War, most of whom 
died in the service. Beyond to the right the old Montgomery 
House, built in part in 1804, now owned and operated by the 
Young Men’s Christian Association. To the left a former pub¬ 
lication office of The Herald. 

The first crossroad, named for General DeKalb, is part of the 
historic State road from Doylestown to West Chester. The next 
street, Mill, leads to the old Holstein flour mill and the foundry 
of Newbold and Son Company. Beyond the borough limits on 
Ridge Turnpike, as Main street is known, Black Horse Hotel and 
the Seven Stars Tavern were famous public places more than a 


century ago. 

On Sandy Hill is the “Catholic Asylum, under charge of Sisters 
of the Good Shepherd, formerly Oakland Female Institute, built 
by Rev. J. G. Ralston, who conducted a celebrated boarding school 
there for thirty-three years, until 1878. During that time three 
thousand girls were instructed. Prior to that a dwelling house 
stood there, built by John Markley, afterwards the residence of 
J. Bird Wilson, judge of this court from 1806 to 1818, who resigned 
his office to become rector of St John’s Episcopal Church.” A 
short distance beyond are the buildings of “Treemount Seminary, 
founded by Rev. Samuel Aaron and successfully conducted by him 
as a boys’ school from 1844 to 1859. He was succeeded by Dr. 
John W. Loch, who was in charge of the school until 1890.” 

On Marshall street, former home of Judge Hamilton Gamble, 


168 


HISTORY HIKES 


1858-1861. To keep Missouri from seceding from the Union he 
was prevailed on to return to his native state and served as Gov¬ 
ernor during Civil War. On DeKalb street two historic places, 
the Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches. On Penn street the 
former Borough Hall, since 1896 the property of the Montgomery 
County Historical Society, an organization founded in 1881 and 
incorporated in 1884, whose rooms should be visited. The public 
square and court house lots were given by the University of Penn¬ 
sylvania to Montgomery county and Norristown in 1786. Penn 
street was opened through the unbroken tract in 1834. The old 
court house stood on the north corner of the square. Its front 
was built of marble from the Derr quarries of Upper Merion. The 
monument at the west corner of the court house was erected to the 
memory of David Rittenhouse. 

On Swede street, former Rambo House, once Eagle Tavern, 
a public house from 1790 until acquired for office purposes by 
the traction companies, whose junction point is close by. On Airy 
street the county prison built 1851 and since enlarged, and the 
Veranda House are located. The City Hall and the Borough 
Market mark the “site of the old Academy, the famous Hill School 
in its day, established 1803, and continued until 1849, when it was 
torn down. The bank on which it stood was removed and DeKalb 
street was opened over its site. It fronted on Airy street.” Here 
General Hancock, General Slemmer, Governor Hartranft and other 
prominent men were pupils. On DeKalb street opposite the City 
Hall is the Norristown Library, founded 1794. A few blocks 
away Basin street crossing DeKalb, marks the site of the first 
reservoir of the water company from 1848 to 1879. To the east 
on Basin street is the location of the former Keswick Institute, a 
girls’ boarding school from 1857 to 1866, now a private residence. 

Returning to Main and Swede streets and going west on Main 
we presently pass Cherry street, originally the western boundary 
of the “Town of Norris.” The home of the Montgomery National 
Bank, the oldest bank in the county, chartered in 1814, 
was built of native marble. Opposite the Post Office Building, 
across Barbadoes street, is the Lincoln Hotel, formerly the 
Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Hotel, “an old tavern, the site of the 
oldest dwelling in town. In 1777, Colonel John Bull of the Con¬ 
tinental Army, lived here. The British burned his barn, which 
stood just across Egypt street.” Beyond are the buildings of the 
former Pennsylvania Farmers’ Tavern. “Stages once started 
from here for Pottstown, Sumneytown, and Boyertown.” The 


THE COUNTY SEAT 


169 


Main street station marks the site of an old grist and saw mill, 
destroyed about 1880. 

The location of the former Elmwood Institute, a boarding 
school for boys, 1847 to 1856, and the house built by General An¬ 
drew Porter, 1787, are on west Main street. The Porter house, 
the farm house of a large farm, was occupied by his family until 
1821. Cemetery lane, leading to Montgomery Cemetery, passes the 
boyhood home of General Hancock. The first burial in Montgomery 
Cemetery was made in 1849; the adjoining cemetery, Riverside, 
was incorporated, 1894. A whole day can easily be spent in these 
cemeteries by history hikers studying monuments and inscriptions. 


Valley 

Forge 


Route—Norristown, Bridgeport, King-of-Prussia, 
Gulf Road to Valley Forge. Points of Interest— 
Bridge across Schuylkill, built 1829, style of bridge 
once quite common, but few left. Barbadoes Island, 


larger before erection of Schuylkill Navigation dam, with road 
from shore to shore; Swedes Ford bridge for wagons and rail¬ 
way, erected 1850. Bridge built here, December, 1777, of wagons 
along which fence rails were laid across which the barefoot Con¬ 
tinental troops tramped on the way to winter quarters. 

Bridgeport—had less than a century ago, only three houses, 
a tavern, a mill and the canal built 1826, once known as Evans¬ 
ville, carved out of Mount Joy Manor, greater part once the prop¬ 
erty’of Duportail, the celebrated French military engineer of the 
Revolutionary War, through his neglect sold for taxes, 1804. To 
the left, Swedeland, settled 1696, old Swede church built 1760, 
Swedeland furnaces, Matsunk home of Andrew Supplee, ancestor 
of a numerous family. 

Along King road—marble and limestone region, some of the 
marble used at Girard College quarried here, birthplace and home 
of Hon. Jonathan Roberts. Stewart Fund Hall, funds bequeathed 
1808 by William Stewart, managed by Board of Trustees. On 
Gulph Road—leaving King-of-Prussia to left, once known as Rees- 
ville, road travelled by troops on way to Valley Forge; Port Ken¬ 
nedy road crossed, Chester county entered. 

Valley Forge—sacred, historic ground of undying interest to 
all American citizens—among points of interest, Letitia Penn 
schoolhouse, hospital building, memorial chapel and Valley Forge 
museum, Mt. Joy Observatory, Washington Headquarters, Sulli¬ 
van Bridge marker, desirable to use local guide book trains on 
Reading Railroad from Valley Forge station. 


170 


HISTORY HIKES 



Gulph 

to 

Cynic yd 


Route—Gulph Mills: Old Gulph road—old Lancaster 
road—to Cynwyd. Notes are based on itinerary, pre¬ 
pared 1913 by S. Gordon Smyth. The Gulph was 
formed by the creek that has gnawed through the 


far reaching hills a deep and narrow passageway for itself and the 
















VALLEY FORGE 



WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE 



ASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE’—INSIDE VIEW 



















172 


HISTORY HIKES 


historic Gulph road. Here the Revolutionary army of 11,000 
men encamped temporarily, December 13 to 19, 1777, after cross¬ 
ing* the Schuylkill, while deciding where to go into winter quarters. 
Among the points of historic interest here are: 1. Walnut Grove; 
site of residence, built 1743, of John Hughes, Royal Stamp Officer 
at Philadelphia, 1764-65; headquarters of Washington during en¬ 
campment. 2. Collegiate Institute, founded 1830, afterward an 
Academy of Natural Sciences where some of the prominent men of 
Montgomery county were educated. 3. Poplar Lane, erected 1765, 
home of Colonel Isaac Hughes. 4. Bird-in-Hand Tavern, kept as 
an inn, 1786, by John Roberts, who also operated the flour mill 
that stood near by. 5. Stone bridge, erected 1789. 6. Site of 

John Roberts’ flour mill, now occupied by McFarland’s mills. 7. 
Hanging Rock. 8. Site of Gulph grist mill, erected 1747, destroyed 



THE GULPH MILLS 


by fire 1895; near at hand were Brooke’s auger and tilt mill and 
other industries. 9. Memorial, erected 1893. 10. Gulph school, 
site of an earlier school called The Ferris School, the college where 
Jonathan Roberts, our first United States senator, was educated. 

Along the old Gulph road we pass a Penn mile stone with its 
ornamental carving of the Penn coat of arms, thirteen miles from 








GULPII TO CYNWYD 


173 


Philadelphia. The Green Tree Hotel along the road replaced two 
earlier taverns, one of which was called Three Tuns. Farther on 
we come to Lower Merion Baptist Church, erected about 1800, with 
a Charles Thomson memorial window. Close by is the Harriton 
estate, patented to Rowland Ellis 1689, acquired by Richard Harri¬ 
son, 1719, whose daughter, Hannah, married Charles Thomson, 
secretary of the Continental Congress. Mill Creek, that drains 
the Harriton estate in a five mile course to the Schuylkill, at one 
time furnished water power for at least thirteen waterwheels, of 
which only one is now in service. Among these may be noted the 
Harriton flour mill; the Dove paper mill where the paper for the 
Continental banknotes and other government paper was made; 
Wynn mills, erected 1746, operated by John Roberts, the Tory, 
during the Revolution who was arrested for treason, tried and 
executed. He was previously accused of grinding glass into flour 
here to destroy the army at Valley Forge, but this charge was 
not established. Near by is the ancient cottage built under di¬ 
rections of Penn about 1690, with modern exterior and date in 
the gable. 

Resuming the walk along the Gulph road, a few minutes 
brings us to the old Lancaster road. To the right are the Penn¬ 
sylvania Railroad and the Lancaster Pike. Beyond Haverford, the 
seat of Haverford College, the old road turns eastward, leaving 
the railroad and turnpike. Southeast of Ardmore is the historic 
St. Paul Lutheran churchyard, in use as early as 1765, when the 
first church edifice was erected. Libertyville, a cluster of houses, 
antedates Philadelphia, and recalls the liberty poles once erected 
here. In 1896, the Lower Merion Chapter, D. A. R., erected a 
memorial stone marking the place of encampment of Washing¬ 
ton’s army on the way to Paoli, September, 1777. Lower Merion 
Friends’ Meeting House has been a place of worship since 1695. 
General Wayne Hotel is near by, also the Federal Springs, an 
outpost of Washington’s army at Valley Forge, and scene of old- 
time political meetings and barbecues. The Old Columbia Railroad 
and the old Lancaster road ran parallel from Ardmore to this 
point; square blocks of stone of the primitive tracks are still to 
be seen. 

Leaving the old Lancaster road and following the Levering 
mill road we reach Academyville, the seat of Lower Merion Acad¬ 
emy, founded 1812, where many prominent Montgomery countians 
were educated. Manayunk and Cynwyd being close by, our hike 
will end. 


174 


HISTORY HIKES 


Route—Norristown, Jeffersonville, Trooper, Eagle- 
ville, Perkiomen Bridge. 

Jeffersonville Inn, a colonial tavern, was built, 
1776, by Archibald Thomson, a Revolutionary 
soldier. After his death his widow kept the tavern. The first 
election for representatives from the county after its erection was 


To 

Perkiomen 

Bridge 



JEFFERSONVILLE HOTEL 


held here. The road to the left is the Egypt road, leading to 
Audubon, Oaks, and Phoenixville. 

Trooper was so called because the house to the right at the 
township line crossroad, a hotel, had a mounted trooper on the 
swinging signboard. The trolley to the right runs to Harleys- 
ville. The road to the left leads to Port Kennedy and Valley 
Forge. The Lower Providence Presbyterian Church on Mount 
Kirk, founded 1741, is a daughter of the old Norriton Presbyterian 
Church below Fairview. Its adjoining cemetery should be visited. 
The trolley line, instead of climbing, circles the hill. 

Just beyond the village, Eagleville, a stop must be made to 
name and locate the seven counties visible on a clear day. On the 
way down hill to the Skippack, idling through the lowlands, a 




PERKIOMEN BRIDGE 


175 


stop should be made at the church and cemetery of the Lower 
Providence Baptist Church. After crossing the Skippack creek 
and climbing the steep hill beyond, the Evansburg road is soon 
reached. A mile to the right is Evansburg, once known as Hustle- 
town, with the St. James Episcopal Church, organized 1721. Dur¬ 
ing the Revolutionary War the church building, like many other 
church buildings, was used as a hospital; more than a hundred 
soldiers were buried in the adjoining cemetery. This place is lo¬ 
cated on the historic Germantown pike, which joins the Ridge pike 
near the old Perkiomen Bridge, completed 1799, at a cost of 
$60,000. The fact that the county was reimbursed for this sum 



LUTHERAN CHURCH, TRAPPE 

in five years by the bridge tolls collected, gives one a conception 
of the amount of traffic. The Perkiomen creek, worming its way 
past Yerkes, Areola and Audubon to the Schuylkill, forms the 
boundary between Upper and Lower Providence. Beyond the 
bridge is the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel dating back to 1701, and the 
southern terminus of the popular Gravel Pike through the Perkio¬ 
men Valley. 






























176 


HISTORY HIKES 


Route—Perkiomen Bridge, Collegeville, Trappe, 
Limerick Square, Pottstown, Stowe. Leaving the 
Perkiomen, Cranberry stream, we soon cross the 
Perkiomen Railroad, extending from Perkiomen 
Junction to Allentown and opened 1875. A short distance beyond 
was the location of Pennsylvania Female College, established 1851, 


Perkiomen 

to 

Stowe 



CROOKED HILL TAVERN, ABOUT 1777 

by J. W. Sunderland, authorized by charter, 1853, to grant de¬ 
grees to women, and discontinued 1880. Beyond are the buildings 
of Ursinus College, opened 1870. 

A mile beyond is Trappe, one of America’s historic shrines. 
Here Muhlenberg lived and toiled and directed. Augustus church, 
erected 1743, is a reminder of old-time church architecture and con¬ 
veniences. Sixty long years people worshipped here summer and 









PERK 10MEN, STOWE 


177 


winter in an unheated building’. In the adjoining cemetery rest 
the remains of many noted citizens. 

At Limerick Square the road forks. The road to the right 
leads to the historic Falckner Swamp, Boyertown, and Reading. 
We take the road to the left, also leading to Reading by way of 
Pottstown. A mile beyond is Limerick Church dating back to 
Revolutionary days. Sanatoga lies within the famous Frankfort 
Land Company tract of 23,000 acres, extending across the county, 
which Sprogell acquired by trickery, fraud, and feeing all the 
Philadelphia lawyers. The old Crooked Hill, or Sanatoga Inn, 
where Major Andre was a prisoner of war for a time, was one 
of the meeting places for militia and battalion drills a century ago. 

Pottstown, laid out 1752, had only a few houses and mills, 
including the Mill Park property, during the Revolutionary War. 
One of these, the home of Judge John Potts, Jr., the Tory, at High 
and Hanover streets, was confiscated and was bought by Genera] 
Arthur St. Clair, who, while residing here, was elected to Con¬ 
gress and served as President of Congress, Feb. 2 to Nov. 27, 1787. 
The Manatawny creek, witness of the iron industry at its mouth, 
also saw on its banks the birth and infancy of the industry in 
America. Stowe, a short distance beyond, lies near the county 
line where our trip will end. 

Route—Jeffersonville, Audubon, Oaks, Mont Clare, 
To by way of the Egypt road. A mile beyond Jefferson- 

Mont Clare ville the township line from Trooper to Port Ken¬ 
nedy is passed; three miles beyond, Audubon, for¬ 
merly Shannonville, is reached, noted as the home for a time of the 
great naturalist, J. J. Audubon. Opposite a deserted blacksmith 
shop is the gateway to Millgrove, the Audubon home; a little far¬ 
ther on, near Protectory station, the entrance to the home of his 
bride, Lucy Bakewell, on the tract called Fatlands, because it in¬ 
cluded what was known as the fat lands of Egypt. The Sullivan 
military bridge across the Schuylkill from this tract was built of 
piers of logs erected in the river on which the timbers were placed 
and fastened with wooden pins. The structure, erected for the 
benefit of the Valley Forge encampment and crossed by the army 
on leaving, lasted only about a year. The marker erected by river 
boatmen in early days, was replaced, 1907, by one erected by the 
Montgomery County Historical Society. 

Farther on, the ruins of the historic lead and copper mines 
are passed. The Perkiomen is crossed on a high bridge which 


178 


HISTORY HIKES 


merits study. The Perkiomen Railroad to the left, crosses the 
Pennsylvania Railroad and then the Schuylkill river into Chester 
county, joining the main line at the Pawling bridge. Almost two 
centuries ago farmers and fishermen had a scrap here. The fisher¬ 
men had erected pens in the river to catch shad, but the pens 
caught also the laden canoes of the farmers floating down the 
river. The farmers after attacking the pens retreated to the mouth 
of the Perkiomen, where they grounded their canoes. The fisher¬ 
men destroyed the canoes, repaired their pens, and caught shad as 
before. 

Beyond Oaks a road to the left leads to Port Providence, an 
important business place in the canal boat era. Mont Clare, oppo¬ 
site Phoenixville, the iron town, ends our hike. At the Fountain 
Inn, a noteworthy building in Phoenixville, is an important historic 
marker with the words: “The Farthest Inland Point Reached in 
the British Invasion of the Northern Colonies during the Revo¬ 
lutionary War, September 21-23, 1777.” 


Trooper 

to 

Salford 


Route—Trooper, Fairview, Worcester, Skippack, 
Harleysville, Salford. To cover this outing use of 
trolley line to Harleysville is necessary in absence of 
other conveyance. After leaving Trooper, car fol¬ 
lows township line several miles, then turns to the left. Stone 
quarry marks location of dwelling where Christopher Sauer, Jr., 
the printer, spent the evening of his life, following the exile from 
his home. 

At Fairview village a visit must be made to the historic Nor- 
riton Presbyterian building and cemetery. These merit study 
even though surroundings have been changed and tombstones de¬ 
stroyed. The grounds were originally part of the Rittenhouse 
farm where David Rittenhouse spent his boyhood days, erected his 
observatory, and studied the transit of Venus. North of the vil¬ 
lage are the Methacton Mennonite Meeting House and cemetery, 
where the bones of Christopher Sauer, Jr., and many other worthies 
repose. Along the Fairview ridge the statue of William Penn 
on the one side and the Berks hills on the other side may be seen. 

Near the Center Point (or Worcester) creamery, well-kept 
farm buildings mark the former home of Hon. Frederick Conrad, 
a prominent citizen in his day. At Center Point our course 
changes to the Skippack road laid out more than two centuries 
ago. Here are reminders of Peter Wentz, a prominent pioneer: 
the Wentz homestead (now Schultz), Washington’s headquarters 


TROOPER TO SALFORD 


179 


in ’77, when the army was encamped a few miles to the north¬ 
east, the Wentz private burying ground, Wentz’s Church, which 
we pass presently. Washington’s army passed through this place 
on its way to Germantown. 

Skippackville is an old settlement and a newspaper town for 
more than half a century. It had its licensed inn, 1742, the nearest 
up-country public house ten miles away. Not far distant is the 
Lower Skippack Mennonite Meeting House, built on land presented 
by Van Bebber, the proprietor—the original building being the 
second Mennonite place of worship erected in America. Here 
Christopher Dock taught, prayed, and died praying. A few miles 
up-stream along the Skippack was the church erected on lands of 
Jacob Reiff, whose membership disbanded to be embodied in other 



NORRITON HOME OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE 


church organizations. The country along our route, part of the 
far-reaching Salford district and under cultivation well-nigh two 
hundred years, does not fig'ure as prominently in events and men 
as some other communities. 

Leaving Skippackville, passing through Lederachville, we 
reach Harleysville, the trolley terminus on the Maxatawny or 
North Wales or Spring-house and Sumneytown turnpike.* Turn- 

















180 


HISTORY HIKES 


ing northward we will be interested in Indian creek as marking the 
home of the Veil known antiquarian and historian, the late Abra¬ 
ham H. Cassel. Branchville will interest because it used to be 
a transfer station in stageline days, the lighter coaches coming 
from the Upper End being exchanged for more capacious ones 
to continue the trip to North Wales. A mile beyond at the foot 
of a hill, Captain Philip Gable of Revolutionary fame resided. 
The road to the left leads to Woxall and the Old Goshenhoppen 
Church. The building itself has been renovated but back of it 
nestles the humble schoolhouse with its school-day memories. The 
inscriptions on the tombstones and the tablets in the church wall 
will be of interest. A few minutes’ walk brings us to Salford sta¬ 
tion for our homeward trip. 



HOME OF SAMUEL BERTOLET, FREDERICK TOWNSHIP 
Staff Headquarters, September 18-26, 1777 


Lucon 

to 

Swamp 


Route—Lucon, Schwenksville, Zieglerville, Obelisk, 
Stetler’s store, Fagleysville. Our route lies part 
way along the road laid out, 1726, from Lucon to 
Layfield extending the Skippack road laid out 1713. 


Schwenksville is comparatively young as a community, although 






LUCON TO SWAMP 


181 


two tracts in the vicinity, supposed to be rich in ores, were 
patented as early as 1701. Hans Joost Hite, the Dutchman, erected 
here a flour and grist mill, 1730, to which Peter Pennebecker added 
a fulling mill, 1775. These, known as the Pennypacker mills, be¬ 
came famous in connection with Washington’s headquarters, 1777, 
while thousands of troops encamped in and around Schwenksville. 

To our right is Spring Mount, and beyond it the hundred-acre 
tract that Dock, the teacher, owned for a number of years. The 
station, Zieglerville, is a mile distant from the village by that 
name, located at the fork of two historic roads. The location 



WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS 
Home of the late Samuel Whittaker Pennypacker, Schwenksville, Pa. 


must have brought business to the place before the railroad era. 
Our route brings us past the Mennonite Home, once Frederick 
Institute, antedating the public-school system. Stetler’s store is 
central to a community that has been historic well-nigh two-hun¬ 
dred years. A noted road from Bucks to Chester county passes 
by. A mile and a half to the left were the home of Henry Antes, 
and the Antes-Heebner mill, erected 1736. The Moravian Church 
was active here. The Continental troops encamped close by. Op¬ 
posite the store was the birthplace of Chester David Hartranft, 
who earned international reputation as historian and theologian. 
























182 


HISTORY HIKES 


Once potteries abounded, makers of earthenware now bringing 
fabulous prices. 

Our next objective point, Fagleysville on the historic road 
from Perkiomen Bridge to Falckner Swamp, is close by the so- 
called Swamp Gate and was in the midst of Camp Pottsgrove in 
Revolutionary days. To the west is the birthplace of General John 
F. Hartranft. Two miles northwest are the historic Lutheran and 
Reformed Churches of the Swamp. These are on the Frankfort 
Land Company tract beyond which lies the tract presented to Wil¬ 
liam Penn’s son, John, in 1701, who sold it to a Philadelphia mer¬ 
chant, George McCall, after which for many years it was known 
as McCall manor. The trolley line terminus is at Boyertown, 
whose iron ore played an important part in the early industries of 
the county. 

We start at Custer station where Rev. George Wack 
un . . lived and labored and where in earlier days Andrew 

ii pain Knox resided on the Cassel farm, appointed by 

Washington to prevent supplies being carried to 
General Howe. By going northeast on the township-line road and 
southeast on the Yost road, we come to a mill on Stony creek, 
the old Yost homestead, where in days of yore, sickles, scythes, and 
guns were manufactured. Close by lived Isaac McGlathery, guide 
to the Continental troops on their way to Germantown. 

Resuming the township line road we reach the Skippack road 
and turn to the left uphill to Bethel Church to visit the grave of 
Peter Supplee, whose young life was sacrificed in the Revolution¬ 
ary War. Not far away lived David Wagner, friend of Jemima 
Wilkinson, the noted religious enthusiast, under whose influence 
he joined others in founding Penn Yan, New York. 

St. John’s Lutheran Church was a military hospital during the 
Revolutionary War; the unfortunate soldiers were laid to rest in 
a trench grave in the adjoining cemetery. Where the State road 
crosses the Skippack road, a hotel, the “Wagon Inn,” did business, 
1759. Here part of Washington’s army detoured. Here President 
Cleveland was greeted on his way to visit the Singerly farms. The 
Wentz (now Titlow) house, built 1763 and named the “Rising Sun 
Inn,” was known as “The Wheat Market,” because wheat was 
bought and sold here in early times. The High School building, a 
little beyond, houses the Whitpain library of several thousand 
volumes, founded 1817. 


WHITPAIN 


183 


Boehm’s Reformed Church, founded 1740, also cared for 
wounded soldiers in Revolutionary days. Broad Axe once was the 
scene of many friendly horse races along the level Ambler road. 
A toss of hats decided whose horses ran; away they went, dust 
flying) farmers roosting on the fences, chewing, and cheering. 
Dawesfield, along the road between Blue Bell and Broad Axe, 
built 1736, and a Washington headquarters, must be visited. The 
army, encamped in the vicinity, brought distress to the inhabitants. 
Ambler, the thrilty young borough, is close by, where the outing 
must end. 


Greenlane 

to 

Palm 


Route—Greenlane, Red Hill,, Pennsburg, East 
Greenville, Palm. Greenlane, young as a borough, 
is a community saw the Maybury family begin the 
iron industry, 1730, where the icehouse is located, 
pig iron being brought from the Durham furnace in upper Bucks 
county. The Lodge hall marks the graveyard of the slave toilers. 
The Schall family that built the stately dwelling house opposite 
the old hotel, revived the iron industry, 1833, after a period of 
neglect and decay. 


Where the Bucks-Chester road crosses the Maxatawny or 
North Wales road, old Matthias Scheifele kept a hotel. Along this 
crossroad about a mile to the northeast and a short distance be¬ 
yond its intersection with the old Macungie or Hoppenville road, 
was the home of immigrant Tobias Hartranft, ancestor of a 
widely scattered family. 


Sumneytown was named for Isaac Sumney, who kept a hotel 
in the fork of the road. Close by Enos Benner was operating a 
printing press almost a century ago. Here a hundred and fifty 
years ago and more, a great road traffic passed and crossed. Two 
-streams of water meet here that once furnished power for a score 
of gunpowder, saw, grist and fulling mills, the places of nearly 
all of which are ruins now. Meetings of prominent citizens were 
held here, 1831, in the interest of a railroad between the county 
seat and the Lehigh Valley. Nestling by the hillside is the home¬ 
stead of the Hiester family, built 1757. 

Returning to Greenlane and taking the train we soon pass 
Red Hill on our left and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church to the right, 
known many years as the Six-Cornered Church on account of the 
shape of the second of the church edifices erected. Close by is the 
old Oberly mill property acquired by the Hillegass family before 
the year 1740. 


184 


HISTORY HIKES 


The towns of the upper end, strung bead-like along the old 
Greenlane and Goshenhoppen turnpike, Red Hill, Pennsburg, East 
Greenville, and Palm, situated in agricultural communities settled 
almost two hundred years ago, are of comparatively recent growth. 
Pennsburg, through the influence of Perkiomen School, enjoys 
a Carnegie Library, which houses a unique museum and library, 
the Schwenkfeld Historical Library, well worth visiting. Near 
East Greenville is located the historic New Goshenhoppen Re¬ 
formed Church, with its extensive cemeteries. Among the noted 



NEW GOSHENHOPPEN REFORMED CHURCH, BUILT 1771 

pastors who have served this congregation, was the Reverend 
John Peter Miller, who afterwards became prominent in the 
cloister at Ephrata, Lancaster county. It was he who translated 
the Declaration of Independence into seven languages and who 
made the memorable and successful winter journey to George 
Washington to ask pardon for his worst enemy. In the oldest of 
the adjoining cemeteries lie the remains of David Shultz, the 
prominent surveyor, scrivener, and general-utility man, with his 
two wives, the first of whom was murdered by a redemptioner. To 
the northeast of East Greenville is Kraussdale, made famous by 
the musical instruments built by the Krausses. Palm, a few miles 












GREENLANE TO PALM 


185 


beyond East Greenville, lies near the boundary line between Mont- 
gomeiy and Berks counties. Several miles southwest from Palm is 
located Bally, one of the oldest Catholic parishes in the United 
States, part of the present buildings dating back to 1743. 


Gwynedd Route—Gwynedd, Kulpsville, Hatfield, Souderton, 

Telford. Gwynedd Friends’ Meeting House was the 
Telford third place of worship established in the county— 

Lower Merion and Abington alone being earlier. 
The meeting house was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary 
War and soldiers were btiried in the adjoining cemetery. The place 
was known as Acuff’s Tavern. A post office was established here, 
1830. Below North Wales a cemetery marks the location of a 
former place of worship, St. Peter’s, a union of Reformed and 
Lutheran Churches. North Wales is a comparatively young com¬ 
munity, the railroad completed 1856 having helped to start and 
develop it. 

A short distance beyond the Wissahickon bridge the old Allen¬ 
town road branches off to the right.. At the fork a hotel was doing 
business as early as 1779. Two miles west is the southwest cor¬ 
ner of Towamencin township. Here, at the home of Christopher 
Wiegner, were the first American headquarters of the Moravian 
Church; here Spangenberg lived, Zinzendorf and Wh'tefield 
preached, and the Associated Brethren of the Skippack held re¬ 
ligious gatherings. Close by, the Schwenkfelders opened a school 
in 1765, for which they had created an endowment fund. The 
Revolutionary army encamped in this vicinity. Kulpsville and the 
Mennonite Meeting House and cemetery, where General Nash and 
other Revolutionary soldiers are buried, lie a few miles to the 
north. 


Along the Allentown road, a few miles beyond the aforemen¬ 
tioned forks, there were in 1849 White’s Inn and post office, while 
Lansdale with its urban air and dress, situated a mile to the east, 
was not even dreamed of. We are in Hatfield township, which 
probably was the highwater mark for incursions by foraging par¬ 
ties of Lord Howe while wintering in Philadelphia, 1777-78. The 
township does not abound in noteworthy historic landmarks as 
some other townships, nor does it have historic churches because 
the early residents , some of whom were Welsh, worshipped in 
churches outside the township limits. The district seems to have 
been shunned by pioneers because the soil was regarded sterile. 
On account of slowness of settlement Indians probably remained 


186 


HISTORY HIKES 


here longer than in some other communities, a few lingering in the 
neighborhood of the borough of Hatfield as late as the Revolution¬ 
ary War. 

Franconia Square and Franconiaville, old settlements of ar¬ 
rested growth, have been far outstripped by the youthful boroughs 
along the railroad. Souderton in 1849 was marked on the map, 
Souder’s Lumberyard. The nearest post office, Bilger’s, was west 
of the cowpath road on the road leading from Franconia Square 
to Telford on the county line which has been making history well- 
nigh two-hundred years. The name cowpath road harks back to 
the day when the cattle of the Welsh pidneers wandered through 
the forests to pasture land. The oldest churches of the community 
are the Franconia Mennonite that erected its first meeting house 
between 1730 and 1750, the Indianfield Lutheran that erected a 
log place of worship about 1730 and the Reformed Church on 
Indian creek, founded 1753. These are within easy walking dis¬ 
tance of Souderton, where this hike must end. 



FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, PLYMOUTH 
Destroyed by fire 1867, rebuilt 

Route—Norristown, Hickorytown, Plymouth Meet¬ 
ing, Conshohocken. We proceed by trolley to save 
time and strength. Hickorytown on the Germantown 
pike organized a company for protection against 
horse-stealing, 1807, and was one of the training places for the 


To 

Barren 

Hill 







TO BARREN HILL 


187 


State militia and battalion drills. Plymouth Meeting was estab¬ 
lished as early as 1691, although a prior settlement had been made 
and abandoned. Here wounded soldiers were quartered; teachers, 
wielding rods and goose-quill pens, taught the young in the oc¬ 
tagonal schoolhouse with desks ranged along the walls; horse 
blocks for lady worshippers graced the yard. Here Hovenden 
painted Breaking the Home Ties.” Yonder are graves two cen¬ 
turies old. 

At Marble Hall less than two miles away, old Patrick Menan 
taught school many years ago. The Hitners of this place in 1851 
donated to Pennsylvania a block of pure white marble on which 
the State coat of arms and Penn’s treaty with the Indians were 
then carved; two thousand people met to view the finishing' carving 
and listen to an address by the Governor of the State, after which 
it was forwarded to Washington and embodied in the Washington 
monument as the contribution of the Keystone State. 



HOVENDEN STUDIO 

We proceed by trolley to Conshohocken, a borough since 1850, 
that dates its large manufacturing interests from 1830 when 
David Harry built his grist mill. Two years later James Wood built 
his rolling mill. Here was the Matson Ford of early days, where 
part of Washington’s army crossed, September, 1777. Stationed 





188 


HISTORY HIKES 


on yonder hills beyond the fine new memorial bridge, British troops 
checked the Continentals, December, 1777, and General Poor’s bat¬ 
tery in turn checked the British following the fleeing Lafayette, 
May, 1778. 

Our next objective point is Spring Mill, where Peter Legaux, 
the noted Frenchman, experimented in grape culture. Hither 
farmers brought wheat to pay quit-rents, to the mill dating from 
1715, whose power was derived from the stream of water flowing 
from bubbling springs a fourth of a mile away. 



HOPE LODGE, WHITEMARSH 


Two miles eastward lies Barren Hill, rich in historic events. 
Here a parochial school was opened, 1758, and a church building 
erected, 1761-65. Here British and Continental troops encamped, 
alternately. The people who worshipped here were robbed of 
horses, cows, sheep, and hogs by Howe’s marauders. Here Lafayette, 
under twenty-one, was stationed, May, 1778, with 2100 troops. 















189 


TO BARREN HILL 


The Biitish, *000 strong, almost encircled and entrapped him and 
his men, but they slipped away and made their escape past Spring 
Mill and Matson Ford to the hills west of the Schuylkill. The 
valiant seven thousand returned to Philadelphia, in the words of 
Lafayette, very tired, very much ashamed and very much laughed 
at.” 




HOPE LODGE, WHITEMARSH, INSIDE VIEW 


Jt 

4 

f 






Wheelpump 

Spring- 

house 


Route—Erdenheim, Flourtown, Fort Washington, 
Ambier, Spring-house. Erdenheim, the junction 
point of two trolley systems, a post office named 
after a noted stockfarm, was formerly known as 
Heydrickdale on account of families living here, also as Wheel- 
pump on account of the pump used at the old tavern, the Wash¬ 
ington Hotel. Springfield township, with its former unique Schuyl- 












190 


HISTORY HIKES 


kill river panhandle, was laid out for Penn’s first wife and con¬ 
sequently not transferred to private owners as early as other 
townships. Flourtown, where the ancient and modern houses are 
next-door neighbors was so named because pioneers came to the 
mills on the Wissahickon close by for their flour. 

The village Whitemarsh and vicinity are noteworthy historic 
ground. Its lime has enjoyed a national reputation many de¬ 
cades. Here the Farmars and Sculls, pioneer families, lived. Here 
Indian councils were held. Here is Hope Lodge, built 1721, with 
its marvelous interior and charming story. Here is St. Thomas 
Church served by the rector of the Oxford Church, for whose con¬ 
venience the church road is said to have been laid out. Here 
Whitefield preached to an audience of more than two thousand in 
1740. Here the Morris brothers founded a school in pre-Revolution- 



FR1ENDS’ MEETINGHOUSE, HORSHAM 

ary days for whose maintenance a fund was created that is still 
intact. Here on the surrounding hills Continental troops were en¬ 
camped, with Washington’s headquarters at the Emlen house, from 
October 20 to December 11, 1777, when they broke camp for 
Valley Forge. 
















WHEELPUMP, SPRINGHOUSE 


191 


Beyond Fort Washington wc pass from Whitemarsh into 
Upper Dublin township, once a part of Abington township. Non¬ 
resident ownership checked settlement originally at the northwest¬ 
ern end, although lime-burning was carried on at Fitzwatertown 
before 1705. 


Ambler, flourishing in the western corner of the township, de¬ 
veloped since the opening of the railroad in 1856, could muster 
only 251 inhabitants as late as 1880. In early days the Wissa- 
hickon mills here did a thriving business. The trolley line that 
left the old turnpike to zigzag through the borough, turns east¬ 
ward on the old Butler pike to resume its northward course on the 
old Gwynedd road to Springhouse and beyond. 


To 

Graeme 

Park 


Route—Springhouse, Maple Glen, Horsham, Graeme 
Park. Springhouse is historic. After viewing the 
traffic and the teeming towns along the old high¬ 
way it is hard to realize that once a rude stone 
house by a well had to serve as a landmark to the lone 
traveler in the untamed forests. One sees in imagination cara¬ 
vans of Conestogas passing and repassing between the county’s 
metropolis, Philadelphia, and the Lehigh Valley and points beyond; 
another stream crossing and recrossing between Chester Valley 
and the west and the Delaware river and the east; while staid 


Friends come and go to visit relatives and meet foi divine woi- 
ship. Arrested growth has been the fate of the place. 


To the northwest lies Gwynedd Meeting House with its sacred 
memories; to the southwest, Penllyn on the North Penn Kailioad, 
close by the place where the pioneer, Edward Foulke, located; 
northward runs the old Bethlehem road, in use two centui ies. One 
mile out we reach Montgomery township, whose name in use here 
two hundred years, recalls Roger de Montgomery of the eleventh 
century. Montgomery Square, with its incorporated library, was 
the birthplace of Sam Medary, of Ohio, and of our W. S. Hancock. 
Beyond are Montgomeryville, a historic Baptist Church, and Col¬ 
mar on the Doylestown Railroad near which a famous school, 
founded by the bequests of John Jenkins, flourished many yeais. 
To the east runs the old Welsh road, passing from Lower Gwynedd 
into Upper Dublin and then into Horsham township. At Three 
Tuns, probably named from its hotel sign, a road to the right leads 
to Puff’s corner, on Susquehanna street, made historic by the 


192 


HISTORY HIKES 


Lutheran Church, dating back to 1753. At Maple Glen the White¬ 
hall pike, midway between the Easton and Bethlehem roads, is 



SIR WILLIAM KEITH 
Governor (1717-1726) 


passed, leading northward into Bucks county, southward to Phila¬ 
delphia through Jarrettown, Dreshertown, Fitzwatertown, all re¬ 
minders of early families. 

Two miles beyond Maple Glen the historic road from Horsham 
Meeting House to Hatfield township is reached. A mile to the 
southeast is the Horsham Friends’ Meeting House, an old land¬ 
mark, on the historic Easton road, connecting Easton by way of 
Doylestown and Philadelphia by way of Willow Grove. Settlement 
in the vicinity of the meeting house was made by the Palmers, 1683, 
and by Iredells and Lukenses about 1709 or 1710. The first house 
of worship was built 1718-1721; the present, 1803. A school, insti¬ 
tuted here 1753, was conducted continuously and successfully until 
1922. 

Two miles north the county line cuts the road. Graeme Park 
lies less than a mile to the northwest along the borders of the 
county. Here Sir William Keith, Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, built a substantial dwelling house, 1722, known as Graeme 
Park, on a twelve-hundred acre tract acquired a few years pre¬ 
viously. Dr. Thomas Graeme, a distinguished Philadelphia physi¬ 
cian, whose wife was the daughter of the wife of Sir William 


TO GRAEME PARK 


193 


Keith, acquired the property. His daughter, Elizabeth, married 
Hugh Henry Ferguson, a Scotchman, 1759, who sided with the 
British in the Revolutionary War and was attainted of treason. 



Old 

York 

Road 


GRAEME PARK, BUILT BY SIR WILLIAM KEITH, 1721 
The property was by special legislative act vested in the wife who 
had remained loyal, but had quite a checkered career. 

Route—LaMott, Ogontz, Jenkintown, Abington, Wil¬ 
low Grove, Hatboro. Old York road, the early route 
from Philadelphia to New York, one of the historic 
and important highways of Pennsylvania, passes 
through three townships and two boroughs. The first point of in¬ 
terest beyond city limits is a settlement of modest dwellings on 
the west side of York road, LaMott, named for Lucretia Mott, 
whose home was near by. This is in Cheltenham township, a 
name probably given by Toby Leech, an early settler, who erected 
a mill on the Tacony in the neighborhood of Ogontz, known in 
earlier days as Shoemakertown, named for the Shoemaker family, 
who owned the millsite where the road crosses the Tacony. The 




194 


HISTORY HIKES 


first mill at this place, known as a “corn-grist water-mill, was 
erected, 1746. Near the crossing of church road which passes 
through Ogontz, and Washington lane, was the home of Jay Cooke, 



LIBRARY BUILDING, HATBORO 

the noted financier. The home of the late John Wanamaker is also 
to the left at the southern borders of Jenkintown. 

This place was named for William Jenkins, the pioneer settler 
of the region. East of the borough is the Abington Friends’ Meet¬ 
ing House, the ground for which was included in a tract of 180 
acres, deeded, 1697, to the Friends’ Meeting for religious and edu¬ 
cational purposes. Later a school was established, which is still 
being conducted. Jenkintown is also the home of the Abington 
library, founded 1803, and is noted for its educational institutions. 

Abington township, one of the original townships, out of which 
Jenkintown was carved, is crossed near the middle by the York 
road. The village of Abington, an old settlement once known as 
Moorestown, is the place of worship of the Abington Presbyterian 
Church, founded 1714. In the cemetery by the roadside are the 
graves of Malachi Jones, the first pastor of the church, of Gilbert 
Tennent, of Samuel Finley, the fifth president of Princeton college, 
and other noted men of early days. 























OLD YORK ROAD 


195 


Willow Grove, at the south corner of Upper Moreland, is the 
next point of interest. Here since pioneer days important streams 
of traffic have been meeting and diverging. Here, more than one 
hundred and fifty years ago, a hotel having accommodations for 
nearly a hundred horses and claiming to be the best hotel stand 
between Philadelphia and the Delaware river, was offered for sale. 
Here in the heyday of staging five stage lines passed daily. Here 
men came to get their mail at the post office in 1816. Here in the 
drug store building a shot tower was once in successful operation. 

East of Willow Grove, in the region of the historic Pennypack, 
are Bethayres, Huntingdon Valley, and Bryn Athyn. 

Two miles beyond Willow Grove is Hatboro, once known from 
the hotel sign as Crooked Billet. When John Dawson, the hatter, 
the first settler, built his house, his daughter, Anne, carried mortar 
in a tow apron. When Anne was married father took her to church 
on horseback and the husband took her to her new home the same 
way. Hatboro has the oldest library in the county. Robert 
Collyer, who closed his life career as pastor of the wealthiest con¬ 
gregation in the United States, in his younger days served as local 
preacher of the Methodist church at Milestown, worked at the 
Hammond tool works in Cheltenham township and walked to Hat¬ 
boro to make use of the library. Loller Academy, founded by Rob¬ 
ert Loller and erected 1812, is used for public school purposes. 
During the Revolutionary War, General Lacey was stationed 
here to protect the interests of the colonists. The British tried to 
capture him, May 1, 1778. In the skirmish thirty of his men were 
killed and seventeen wounded. A monument recalls the event. 



STRAW AND HICKORY BASKETS. MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY 

COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 




CHAPTER XI 

NOTES ON NAMES 


NOTE:—The following brief notes are inserted to encourage a study of the 
history of names. It must not be overlooked that some local names were selected 
or newly coined to meet postal requirements that names of postoffices are to be 
short, single, easy to pronounce, and unlike other names. The Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution supplied interpretations of Indian names which are marked S and en¬ 
closed in parentheses. 

ABINGTON—parish in England; early names of, Milltown, Hill¬ 
top, Shepherd’s. 

ABRAMS—family name, Abraham. 

AMBLER—named in honor of Mary J. Ambler, a widow, for 
services rendered in connection with a very serious railroad 
accident, 1856; early name of, Wissahickon. 

AMITYVILLE—early name for Lucon. 

ARCOLA—a small Italian town in Northern Italy; early name of, 
Doe Run. 

ARDMORE—an Irish name, the high moor or tract of wild 
ground. 

ASHBOURNE—a place in England; early name of, Bountytown. 
ATHENSVILLE—early name for Bryn Mawr or Ardmore. 
AUDUBON—named for John J. Audubon, the naturalist; early 
name of, Shannonville. 

BALA—Welsh, place in Wales, meaning a shoot or budding. 
BALLYGOMINGO (Balligo)—early name of Gulph. 

BARREN HILL—probably on account of narrow ridge of barren 
soil near church. 

BELFRY—perhaps on account of the belfry of St. John’s Evan¬ 
gelical Lutheran Church, a few hundred yards below. 
BETHAYRES—“On the completion of the railroad to New York 
in 1876, the station was called Bethayres, a contraction of 
Elizabeth Ayres, who was born here, and the mother of one 
of the directors of the improvement.”—W. J. Buck. 
BIRD-IN-HAND—early name for Gulph Mills, from hotel sign. 
BLUEBELL—probably on account of the hotel sign. 
BRIDGEPORT—probably on account of the DeKalb Street bridge. 
BRYN ATHYN—Welsh, from Bryn, hill or mount; Athyn, very 
tenacious, cohesive, or Eithan, name of plant. 

BRYN MAWR—Welsh, Great Hill. 

CAMP HILL— used as camping ground in Revolutionary War. 


NOTES ON NAMES 


197 


CHELTENHAM—parish and borough in England, home of Toby- 
Leech, an early settler. 

CONESTOGA—an Indian name meaning the great magic land. 

(At the place of the muddy or oily water—S.) 

CONGO—early name of, Cedarville; chosen because it is easy to 
spell and pronounce. 

CONSHOHOCKEN—an Indian name meaning pleasant valley, 
known as Edge Hill. (At the briar land or land overgrown 
with briars—S.) 

CROOKED HILL—so named on account of the peculiar formation 
of the hills, early name for Sanatoga. 

CUSTER—a family name. 

CYNWYD—Welsh, meaning evil, destructive. 

DOUGLASS—a town and river in Scotland. 

DRESHERTOWN—family name. 

EAGLEVILLE—“A large eagle was shot in the vicinity and nailed 
to one of the buildings. From this incident the village received 
its name.” (T. W. Bean.) 

EAST GREENVILLE—named Greenville on account of a tree 
at the upper end of the borough; named East Greenville to 
distinguish from Greenville in Western Pennsylvania. 

ELM—early name of Narberth. 

EDGE HILL—structure of rock or edge of limestone section. 

EVANSBURG—family name, Edward Evans first postmaster, 
1825. 

FAGLEYSVILLE—probably a family name. 

FLOURTOWN—tradition says that the early settlers came here 
to mill with their grain from whence the name originated. 

FRANCONIA—an old duchy of the Germanic Empire. 

FREDERICK—Frederick William, King of Prussia. 

FREELAND—early name for Collegeville. 

GLADWYNE—early name of, Merion Square. 

GLASGOW—place in Scotland. 

GILBERT, Manor of—early name for Providence in honor of Wil¬ 
liam Penn’s mother. 

GILBERTSVILLE—family name. 

GOSHENHOPPEN—(the wonderful tuber or tubers—S). 

GREENLANE—on account of the foliage of the trees growing 
along the road in the vicinity. 

GULPH—probably so named because surrounded by hills. 

GWYNEDD—Welsh, meaning the white land. 


198 


NOTES ON NAMES 


HARLEYSVILLE—named for Samuel Harley, who built a tavern 
here 1790, marking the beginning of the village. 

HATBORO—place where hats are made. 

HATFIELD—either an early family name or a town and parish 
in England. 

HAVERFORD—Welsh, meaning goat’s ford. 

HENDRICKS—probably a family name. 

HEYDRICKDALE—family name; locality in Springfield, south 
of Flourtown. 

HILL—an early name for Abington, on account of Philip Hill, 
an early landholder. 

HOFFMANSVILLE—a family name. 

HOPPENVILLE—(seemingly a hybrid word, meaning “tuber” 
ville—S). 

HORSHAM—parish and borough in England, home of Samuel 
Carpenter, an early extensive landholder. 

HOSENSACK—(small clay pots—S). 

HUMPHREYVILLE—early name of Bryn Mawr and vicinity 
for David Humphrey an early settler. 

JARRETTOWN—a family name. 

JEFFERSONVILLE—from hotel sign, a portrait of Thomas 
Jefferson. 

JENKINTOWN—named for Stephen Jenkins, an early settler. 

KING-OF-PRUSSIA—from sign of hotel kept here 1736. 

KLINESVILLE—a family name. 

KNEEDLER—named for Henry Kneedler, who owned property 
there. 

KRATZ—family name. 

KULPSVILLE—family name. 

LANCASTERVILLE—family name; early name of, Wrangletown 
on account of disputes. 

LEDERACHSVILLE—named for Henry Lederach, who built the 
first house here, 1825. 

LIMERICK—city and county in Ireland. 

LIBERTYVILLE—an early name for Wynnwood. 

LINFIELD—early name of, Limerick. 

LOCUST CORNER—Crossroad on Morris Road between Towa- 
mencin and Upper Gwynedd. 

LUCON—specially coined word. 

LUMBERVILLE—early name for Port Providence. 

MACOBY—(large turbid or reddish water—S). 



NOTES ON NAMES 


199 


MANATAWNY—Indian, meaning where we drank. (Ill-smelling 
village—S.) 

MANAYUNK—Indian, meaning where we go to drink. (At the 
worthless place—S.) 

MARLBOROUGH—named for the Duke of Marlborough. 

MAXATAWNY—Indian, meaning bear’s path stream. (Bear’s 
foot village or stream—S.) 

McLEANS—family name. 

MELROSE—a town in Scotland. 

MERION—Welsh, Merioneth in Wales. 

METHACTON—Indian name of hill in Lower Providence (?) 
(at the evil hill or mountain-—S). 

MINGO—an Indian term meaning stealthy or treacherous. (A 
gross name given by the Delaware and cognate tribes to 
Iroquoian people, and specifically to the Conestoga—S.) 

MONTGOMERY—the township Montgomery settled by immi¬ 
grants from Montgomeryshire, Wales, was named for Roger 
de Montgomery, a Norman knight, whose castle, built 1095, 
was destroyed by the Welsh; the county Montgomery was 
named either for the above reason or in honor of General 
Richard Montgomery who fell in the Revolutionary War— 
possibly the two members of the Penna. Assembly by this 
name fostered the idea. 

MORELAND—nemed for Nicholas Moore, a prominent early 
officeholder and the proprietor of the Manor of Moreland 
which included Moreland Township, and part of Philadel¬ 
phia county. 

MOORETOWN—early name of Village of Abington from name 
of keeper of tavern, Mary Moore. 

MORWOOD—early name of, Gehman; from Mor for Levi P. 
Morton and wood, woods surrounding the place. 

MOUNT KIRK—hill on which Lower Providence Presbyterian 
Church is located. 

NIANTIC—Indian, meaning at a point of land on a tidal river. 
(Angle or point of water—S.) 

NARBERTH—Na-berth, not beautiful. (?) 

NEIFFER—family name. 

NESHAMINY—an Indian name, meaning a double stream. (A 
double stream or a confluence of two streams—S.) 

OAKS—probably on account of trees. 

OBELISK—early name of, Roseville; name suggested by picture 
on box of paper collars. 


200 


NOTES ON NAMES 


OGONTZ—name of an Indian chief, who was a friend of Jay 
Cooke in his childhood. 

OLETHEHO—an Indian name for the land at the mouth of the 
Perkiomen. 

PAWLING—family name. 

PENCOYD—Welsh, Pennychlawd, the place from which John 
Roberts, ancestor of the Roberts family, migrated. 

PENLLYN—Welsh, meaning the beginning of a stream. 

PENNYPACK—Indian, meaning deep, dead water. (Fallen rock 
or cross-lake—S.) 

PERKIOMEN—an Indian name meaning cranberry place. (Place 
of cranberries, cranberries—S.) 

PIGEONTOWN—an early name for Blue Bell. 

PLYMOUTH—a place in England. 

PORT KENNEDY—named for the founder of the place, Alex¬ 
ander Kennedy (1761-1824). 

POTTSGROVE—family name. 

POTTSTOWN—named for John Potts, the founder. 

PROSPECTVILLE—so named on account of the fine, natural 
scenery. 

PROVIDENCE—so named either on account of Providence, 
Rhode Island, or Providence Island, of the West Indies from 
which early settlers came. 

RED HILL—so named on account of the nature of the soil. 

REESVILLE—early name for King-of-Prussia. 

ROCKLEDGE—probably so named on account of the ledges of 
rock which affected early efforts at well digging; early name 
of Shady Dale, 
reyville. 

ROSEMONT—Welsh, meaning Great Hill—early name of, Humph- 
reyville. 

RYDAL—place in England. 

SALFORD—name of town and parishes in England. 

SANATOGA—an Indian name. 

SASSAMANSVILLE—family name. 

SCHWENKSVILLE—family name. 

SCHUYLKILL—Dutch, meaning concealed river, called by the 
Delaware Indians Ganshowehanna, the roaring stream. 

SCIOTA—an Indian name. 

SHAINLINE—family name. 

SHANNONVILLE—named for Robert Shannon, the early name 
for Audubon. 


NOTES ON NAMES 


201 


SKIPPACK—an Indian name meaning stagnant stream. (Arti¬ 
choke—S.) 

SORREL HORSE—from hotel sign. 

SOUDERTON—family name. 

SPANGTOWN—early name for Engleville. 

SPRINGHOUSE—a house built over a spring. 

SUMNEYTOWN—named for Isaac Sumney, an early landholder, 
and innkeeper. 

STOWE—name of early landholder in vicinity. 

SWAMP—early name for village and surrounding country, New 
Hanover. 

TACONY—an Indian name, Tawocawomink; Tacony (in the for¬ 
est—S) ; Tawocawomink (at the broad land—S). 

THREE TUNS—from an old tavern sign, three casks or tuns. 

TOWAMENCIN—an Indian name. In the petition for the es¬ 
tablishment of the Township occurred the words: ’’The de¬ 
sire of the subscribers is that the township may be called 
Towamencin, being the Indian name of the creek that springs 
and runs through the same.” (Poplar trees—S.) 

TROOPER—from a hotel sign, a mounted trooper. 

TREWIGTOWN—named for Andrew Trewig, an innkeeper, an¬ 
other name, Hatfield Square. 

VERNFIELD—named for Verner G. Nyce, by his father, A. H. 
Nyce, the postmaster. 

VILLA NOVA—Italian, meaning new villa or home; named for a 
town in Spain. 

WHITEMARSH—either the name of a parish in England or wide 
marsh or marsh of white earth, early name Farmarstown. 

WHITPAIN—family name. 

WILLOW GROVE—willow trees; early names of, Roundmeadow, 
Pigtown. 

WISSAHICKON—an Indian name meaning Catfish stream ( black 
oak or yellow stream—S). 

WORCESTER—city and county in England. 

WOXALL—corruption of Noxall. 

WYNNEWOOD—named for Dr. Thomas Wynne, an early settler. 

YERKES—named for Isaac Yerkes, a landowner. 

ZACHARIAS CREEK, named for Zacharias Whitpain, an early 
settler. 

ZIEGLERVILLE—family name. 


CHAPTER XII 

THE MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

The basis of this map is the topographical map of the United 
States in preparation since 1882 by the United States Geological 
Survey, supplemented by data collated by the author—in part 
from maps issued by the State Highway Department of Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

The scale of the map is 1: 62,500, or nearly one inch of map to 
one mile of ground. 

Township and borough lines are indicated by broken lines 
made conspicious by colored border. Roads are indicated by double 
lines; railroads by double lines with cross lines; buildings (as of 
1895) by small black squares. 

All water features are shown in blue. 

The irregular contour lines printed in brown indicate points 
of the same altitude above mean sea level instrumentally deter¬ 
mined, the elevation in feet being shown by the figures accompany¬ 
ing the lines. The elevation of some definite points are also 
given. The intervals between adjacent contour lines signify 
twenty feet in elevation. 

The figures accompanying the roads refer to the numbers in 
the following tabulated data respecting said roads. This table 
merely gives a few facts of some of the roads confirmed prior to 
the formation of the county, 1784; no attempt being made to 
enumerate all roads so confirmed or to give data as to roads hav¬ 
ing been changed, vacated, relocated or finally abandoned. A 
study of the table will enable one to get a more vivid conception 
of the gradual settlement of the county. The date of confirmation, 
and the location are followed by self-explanatory matter. The 
placing of an “S” after a number indicates that it is the route 
number of the roads as given on the State Road Map issued 
June, 1922. 

1—1687—PLYMOUTH. James Fox in behalf of himself and 
the rest of the inhabitants of Plymouth requested a 
cut road which was ordered under proviso that there 
, must be no disturbance of Indians. 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


203 


2—1693—CHELTENHAM. Inhabitants of Cheltenham petitioned 
for a road to Philadelphia and Germantown. The road 
was confirmed if in use four years. 

4—1702—ABINGTON. A road was laid out, prior to 1702, 
through Abington to extend to the end of the county. 
Persons refused to help cut. Road seems to have 
been confirmed only to Dreshertown. See No. 135. 

6—1704—GWYNEDD. Reviewers were ordered to lay out a 
road from Philadelphia to Germantown, and the utter¬ 
most part of the township of North Wales, the early 
name of Gwynedd. 

8_1706—WHITEMARSH to LOWER PROVIDENCE. This 
road extended from the mill on the Wissahickon, 
through Roxborough to the Perkiomen and was known 
later as the Germantown Pike. 

12—1712—GWYNEDD. This is the old Welsh road. John 
Humphreys and Edward Foulke built a bridge which 
became a noted landmark. McKean road, part way 
the old Pennypack road. See No. 145 . 

15—1712—ABINGTON. This is the road from Abington Meet¬ 
inghouse to the Byberry Meetinghouse. 

19— 1713—SKIPPACK. This is the Skippack road from Bebber’s 

township to Philadelphia. The road ended at that time 
about half a mile above Lucon. 

20— 1715—PLYMOUTH. Petition for a road from Gwynedd to 

David Williams’, used ten years—opened and confirmed. 

21— 1716—WHITEMARSH and UPPER DUBLIN. 

22— 1718—MONTGOMERY. Whitehall turnpike. 

23— 1718—UPPER PROVIDENCE. Ridge Pike. 

25— 1721—ABINGTON. 

26— 1720—MORELAND. Road from Horsham Meetinghouse to 

“Bibury” and the Delaware river—Byberry road. 

27— 1721—MORELAND. County line near J. Jones’ to Chamber¬ 

lain’s road. 

29— 1722—HORSHAM. Governor’s road—later Doylestown turn¬ 

pike and Easton road—requested by Governor Keith. 

30— 1722—WHITEMARSH, PERKIOMEN. Ridge road and Egypt 

road—resurveyed 1731. At the second survey there was 
considerable departure from the first draft. 

30a—1722—HORSHAM, MORELAND. Along county line from 
York road to the path from the ferry on the Neshaminy 
to Farmar’s mill. 


204 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


31— 1723—LIMERICK, through Falckner Swamp to Oley. 

32— 1724—HORSHAM. McKeen road. 

33— 1723—LOWER MERION. The road from the Market Place, 

Germantown, to the Lancaster road. 

35—1724—UPPER MERION. Road from Whiteland to Swedes 
p or( j—Swedes Ford road, later King-of-Prussia road, 
now King road. 

37—1724—MORELAND. Along the county line to meet a road 
proposed in Bucks county. 

37a—1724—ABINGTON. 

42— 1725—LOWER MERION. 

43— 1725—UPPER DUBLIN. Obstructed by the Germantown Cor¬ 

poration, 1703—Jenkintown road. See No. 4, petition 
for a road to enter the Plymouth road—Jenkintown 
road. 

44— 1726—WEST POTTSGROVE. Rutter’s forge to the Great 

road at Pottstown. 

45— 1726—PLYMOUTH. From Maxatawny road to Joseph 

Gray’s mill to Lower Swede road. 

46— 1726—SKIPPACK to FREDERICK. The Big or Great road 

called the Swamp road between Lucon and Schwenks- 
ville. 

47— 1727—BRANCHVILLE to GWYNEDD. Sumneytown pike, 
46—1726—SKIPPACK to FREDERICK. The Big or Great road, 

49— 1727—MORELAND. 

50— 1728—MONTGOMERY. 

50b—1728—Road from Skippack, through Lederachville and Sal- 
fordville, to Sumneytown. 

51— 1730—GWYNEDD. 

54 —1731—MORELAND. Horsham road. 

56—1733—CHELTENHAM. R. Murray to P. Rittenhouse’s mill. 

60— 1736—HATFIELD. Bethlehem turnpike, part of. 

61— 1734—LOWER PROVIDENCE. Description does not agree 

with roads as shown on recent maps. From Pawlings 
to St James’ Church, Evansburg. 

62— 1734—CHELTENHAM. Church road. Whitemarsli Church 

to Oxford Church. 

63— 1734—UPPER DUBLIN. Limekiln pike. 

64— 1734—ABINGTON, CHELTENHAM. 

64a—1735—GERMANTOWN to ABINGTON, Washington lane. 
66—1735—UPPER HANOVER, MARLBOROUGH. 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


205 


67— 1735—UPPER HANOVER. This road, as laid out, ran from 

the upper end of Pennsburg to the Macoby at Green- 
lane, and made only three angles in the whole course. 

68— 1734—Allentown road. Upper Salford, Franconia to Upper 

Gwynedd. 

68a—1735—TOWAMENCIN. 

69— 1735—WORCESTER. 

70— 1736—WORCESTER. 

71— 1734—LOWER MERION to WHITEMARSH, Godley road, 

72— 1734—NORRITON, Norris’ mills to Manatawny road. 

73— 1735—MONTGOMERY, HORSHAM. Montgomery road was 

joined to Cow Path road. See No. 94. 

74— 1735—CHELTENHAM. This was the historic Limekiln road 

from Fitzwatertown to Branchtown, laid out before 
1700, but of which the records have been lost. 

75— 1735—MARLBOROUGH. Macungie road, Hoppenville road, 

Geryville and Sumneytown turnpike. 

76— 1736—UPPER MERION to LOWER PROVIDENCE. 

78—1737—HORSHAM. Whitehall turnpike, Butler turnpike. 

80— 1738—UPPER DUBLIN. See No. 136. 

81— 1738—NORRITON, WHITPAIN. Swede Street road. 

83— 1738—UPPER SALFORD. In part, Skippack road. 

84— 1739—NEW HANOVER and DOUGLASS. The Big or 

Great road. 

85— 1739—WHITEMARSH. Upper Dublin to Plymouth Meet¬ 

inghouse. 

86— 1739—ABINGTON, Upper Dublin, extension of Susquehanna 

road. See No. 135. 

87— 1739—LOWER MERION. Haverford Meetinghouse to the 

Schuylkill river, in use over thirty years, Old Haver¬ 
ford road, Ralph Ashton Ferry to Chester county. 

88— 1739—WHITEMARSH. 

90— 1741—LOWER MERION. Conestoga road. 

91— 1736—LOWER SALFORD. Morris road. This road was 

surveyed several times. In 1763, a petition stated that 
the road was of uncertain breadth, had never been 
opened and was of little use. Reviewers and re-re¬ 
viewers were appointed. 

92— 1740—CHELTENHAM. “Which said road (since the many 

settlements) has been so turned that it has now be¬ 
come difficult to pass into the great road.” (Petition.) 


206 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


93— 1740—WHITPAIN. Road connecting Swede Ford road and 

Farmar’s mill—was often changed—Williams’ road. 

94— 1740—UPPER SALFORD, FRANCONIA, HATFIELD. Cow 

Path road, was joined to the Montgomery road. 

95— 1742—PROVIDENCE. Black Rock road. Thomas Lewis road. 

96— 1743—Road from Schuylkill river, through Upper Providence, 

to Perkiomen Bridge, along Germantown pike, through 
Worcester, Upper Gwynedd to North Wales Meeting¬ 
house. 

97— 1742—ABINGTON, CHELTENHAM. From Fletcher’s Mill 

road to York road. 

98— 1742—UPPER HANOVER. Pottstown road. 

100—1748—Gulph road, laid out prior to 1748. 

102— 1745—HATFIELD, along county line. 

103— 1745—UPPER MERION. Holstein road. 

105— 1745—MORELAND, SPRINGFIELD. 

106— 1745—UPPER and LOWER PROVIDENCE. Road to and 

from Daniel Reece’s mill. 

107— 1745—HORSHAM. 

108— 1745—MORELAND. 

112—1747—WHITPAIN. 

114— 1748—MORELAND. 

115— 1748—SPRINGFIELD. 

118— 1748—UPPER PROVIDENCE, SKIPPACIC. 

119— 1748—UPPER SALFORD. 

122—1750—TOWAMENCIN. Forty-foot road. 

125—1751—LOWER MERION. County line. 

128—1751—PLYMOUTH. Spring Mill to Gwynedd Meetinghouse. 
130—1751—MERION, PLYMOUTH. Conshohocken road. But¬ 
ler pike. 

133—1753—HATFIELD. 

135—1753—UPPER DUBLIN. Extension of Susquehanna street. 
136 1753—BUCKS COUNTY LINE. From Chamberlain road 

northwest nineteen and one-half miles to Bethlehem 
road. See No. 180. 

137— 1753—CHELTENHAM. County Line. 

138— 1753—PLYMOUTH. Road used for thirty years. 

139— 1754—LIMERICK. Linfield road, stopped up after forty 

years’ use. 

141— 1754—WHITEMARSH. 

142— 1755—UPPER DUBLIN. This was part of road confirma¬ 

tion No. 32. 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


207 


143—1755—UPPER HANOVER. 

145— 1756—MORELAND. 

146— 1756—LOWER PROVIDENCE. 

147— 1756—SKIPPACK. Coincides in part with road No. 205. 

148— 1756—WHITPAIN. 

149— 1758—UPPER GWYNEDD. 

150— 1758—FRANCONIA, UPPER SALFORD. County line to 

Cryder’s mill. 

151— 1758—UPPER PROVIDENCE. 

152— 1758—LOWER MERION. 

153— 1758—HORSHAM. 

155— 1759—LOWER PROVIDENCE. 

156— 1760—UPPER and LOWER PROVIDENCE. 

158— 1760—GWYNEDD. 

159— 1760—GWYNEDD. 

163— 1761—MORELAND. 

164— 1761—UPPER MERION. Kennedy road. 

165— 1761—UPPER PROVIDENCE. Egypt road. 

172— 1762—UPPER PROVIDENCE. 

173— 1763—LOWER MERION. 

175—1764—FREDERICK. 

177—1763—UPPER MERION. 

179— 1765—LOWER MERION. 

180— 1765—MONTGOMERY. County line to Bethlehem road. 
185—1766—MARLBOROUGH to LIMERICK. Ridge road; part 

of, Fagleysville road. 

187—1767—MARLBOROUGH. Ridge road. 

190—1767—LOWER PROVIDENCE. Road, St. James’ Church 
to Reece’s mill. 

192—1767—LOWER MERION. Between the same points as No. 
71. 

195— 1768—MORELAND and ABINGTON. 

196— 1769—DOUGLASS. 

197_1769—LOWER PROVIDENCE to WHITEMARSH. Ridge 
road. Petitioners complained that the road was nar¬ 
row, seldom repaired, and that there was no record 
of courses or width. 

200— 1770—MORELAND. 

201— 1770—WHITPAIN. 

203— 1770—CHELTENHAM. Jenkintown road. 

204— 1770—MORELAND. Southampton road, Chamberlain road. 


208 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


205- —1771—SKIPPACK. Road had been in use twenty years, but 

had not been opened. Skippack road to Germantown 
pike. 

206— 1771—LOWER MERION. Spring- Mill road, had been used 

many years, but was now stopped up. 

208—1772—WHITEMARSH to LOWER PROVIDENCE. Ger¬ 
mantown pike. The road was laid out at this time 
because the overseers were neglecting to repair it for 
want of records. 

214—1772—UPPER PROVIDENCE, LIMERICK. Road from 
Trappe Church to Chester county, cutting through 
Royersford, touching the lower end of Peter’s Island. 

217—1773—PLYMOUTH. 

219— 1773—MARLBOROUGH. This road was confirmed on pe¬ 

tition of Thomas Maybury to accommodate his mill. 

220— 1774—HORSHAM, MONTGOMERY. See No. 136 and No. 

• 30a. 

222—1774—NORRITON. Township line road between Norriton 
and Lower Providence. 

224— 1774—NEW HANOVER. Petitioners claimed that the road 

was not laid out, and therefore closed up. Road 
No. 46 laid out to the mill, 1726. 

225— 1774—BARBADOES ISLAND. Road laid out from Egypt 

road, across the Schuylkill river and Barbadoes Island 
to Swedes Ford road. 

227—1775—PLYMOUTH. 

142S—Lancaster road. 

145S—Philadelphia to Norristown. 

146S—Philadelphia by way of Ridge pike to Pottstown, through 
Berks county to Reading. 

151S—Philadelphia by way of Cheltenham, Abington, etc., to 
Doylestown. 

153S—Philadelphia by way of Springfield, Upper Dublin, Mont¬ 
gomery, etc., to Allentown. 

155S—Willow Grove to New Hope. 

158S—Collegeville by way of Perkiomen, Frederick, Marlborough, 
and Upper Hanover to Allentown. 

178S—Norristown by way of Norriton, Whitpain, the Gwynedds, 
and Montgomery to Doylestown. 

.197S—Philadelphia by way of Skippack road, etc., to Reading. 


MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 


209 


198S—Lower Moreland by way of Horsham, Lower Salford, etc., 
to Greenlane. 

201S—Valley Forge through the Merions to Bala. 

202S—West Chester by way of Upper Providence to Collegeville. 

225S—Chester county by way of Gulph Mills to Norristown. 

270S—Downington by way of Upper Providence, Perkiomen, Skip- 
pack, Lower Salford and Franconia to Bucks county. 

284S—Pottstown by way of Boyertown to Hereford. 

362S—Philadelphia by way of Abington and Lower Moreland to 
Wrightstown. 

373S—Philadelphia by way of Cheltenham, Upper Dublin, and 
Horsham to Bucks county. 


y 












INDEX 


NOTE: This index does not cover Chapters IX, XI, XII and the map. 


A 

Aaron, 167 

Abington, 32, 34, 35, 39, 42, 77, 
103, 130, 131, 132, 133, 142, 
144, 146-148, 185, 191, 193, 
194 

Aeademyville, 173 
Acker, 88, 89 
Acuff, 185 
Africa, 25, 120 
Alaska, 121 
Allegiance, Oath of, 40 
Allentown, 46, 176, 185 
Ambler, 130, 133, 142, 144, 148, 
183, 189, 191 
Amity, 38 
Andre, 177 
Antes, 44, 181 
Arabia, 120 
Areola, 175 
Ardmore, 173 
Arizona, 118 
Atheist, 25 

Audubon, 76, 174, 175, 177 
Austria, 121 

B 

Backwoodsmen, 52 
Bakewell, 177 
Bally, 43, 185 
Bank, 168 

Baptist, 173, 175, 191 
Barbadoes, 48 

Barren Hill, 111, 186, 187, 188, 
189 

Bedford, 44, 109 
Belgium, 120 
Beltz, 99 

Bender, Annie, 99 
Benner, 183 
Berks County, 37, 43 
Bertolet, 180 
Bethel Hill, 47 
Bethlehem, 46, 74, 108 
Bilger, 186 
Blue Bell, 183 


Bodey, Clara, 99 
Boehm, 183 
Boyertown, 177, 182 
Branc-hville, 180 
Breck, 103 
Brethren, 185 

Bridgeport, 39, 86, 130, 133, 
142 144, 148, 169 
Bridges, 35, 40, 46, 48, 74, 78, 
86, 96, 169, 177 
Broad Axe, 183 

Bryn Athyn, 130, 133, 142, 144, 
195 

Bryn Mawr, 90 
Buck, 21 

Bucks County, 37, 42, 117, 181 
Bull, 168 

Business, 101, 120 

c 

California, 118, 120 
Callowhill, 19 
Canada, 20, 86, 117, 118 
Canals, 75, 78, 79, 169 
Carlisle, 61 

Carolinas, 25, 62, 117, 118 
Carpenter, 36 
Cashmere, 120 
Cassel, 98, 180 
Catholic, 25, 43, 185 
Cemeteries, 39, 169, 180 
Ceylon, 120 

Cheltenham, 32, 34, 35, 37, 103, 
130, 133, 142, 144, 146-148, 
194, 195 

Chester, 21, 35, 37, 42, 73, 178, 
181, 191 
China, 118, 120 

Churches and Meetinghouses, 35, 
37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 69, 70, 71, 
168 

Clark, 92 
Cleveland, 182 
Clothing, 52 
Coal, 79 

Collegeville, 74, 130, 134, 142, 


INDEX 


211 


144, 148, 17G 
Collyer, 195 
Colmar, 191 
Columbia, 80, 118 
Confucius, 11 
Connecticut, 81, 120 
Conrad, 178 

Conshohocken, 21, 79, 124, 132, 
134, 141-145, 148, 149, 18G, 
187 

Cooke, 194 
Courts, 31, 74, 77 
Cresson, 36 
Crooked Billet, 195 
Cruikshank (Robert, not J. W.), 
88,89 

Custer, 118, 182 
Cynwyd, 170, 173 

D 

Dawesfield, 183 
Dawson, 195 

Delaware, 19, 24, 25, 46, 81, 191, 
195 

Dickinson, 38 
Dock, 179 
Doddridge, 63 

Douglass, 36, 43, 103, 130, 131, 
134, 142, 144, 146-148 
Doylestown, 167, 192 
Dreshertown, 192 
Duck Island, 24 
Dunkard, 25 
Duportail, 169 
Durham, 183 
Dutch, 25, 27, 32, 39 
Dwellinghouses, 49, 50 

E 

Eagleville, 174 

East Greenville, 40, 116, 130, 
134, 142, 144, 148, 183-185 
Easton, 44, 46, 109, 117, 192 
Edge Hill, 21 

Education, 44, 53, 77, 81, 85, 
88-90, 98-100, 105, 133-141, 
167, 169, 172, 173, 176, 181, 
185, 187, 188, 192, 195 
Egypt, 121 
Ellis, 173 

England, 20, 25, 120, 121 


English, 25, 27, 32, 40 
Ephrata, 184 
Episcopalian, 25, 175, 190 
Erdenheim, 189 
Europe, 12, 13, 32, 120 
Evansburg, 111, 174 
Evansville, 169 

F 

Fagleysville, 46, 119, 134, 180, 
182 

Fairview Village, 178 
Farmars, 190 

Farmlife and Farmers, 14, 81, 
101, 102, 109, 117, 178, 182, 
183 

Ferguson, 193 
Finley, 194 
Fisher, 36, 93, 98 
Fitzwatertown, 191, 192 
Flatrock, 75 
Florida, 120 
Flourtown, 189, 190 
Food, 52 
Fornance, 167 
Fort Washington, 189, 191 
Fosdick, 122 
Foulke, 191 
Fox, Elizabeth, 36 
France, 20 ,25, 120 
Franconia, 34, 35, 38, 40, 43, 
108, 130-132, 134, 142, 144, 
146-148, 186 

Frankfort Land Company, 36- 
38, 177, 182 
Franklin, 44 

Frederick, 36, 37, 40-46, 78, 111, 
130-132, 134, 142, 144-148, 181 
148, 181 

Friends, 19, 25, 39, 109, 173,185, 
186, 190-192, 194 
Fry, 99, 118 
Fuel Problem, 46 


G 

Gable, 180 
Gamble, 167 
Gambling, 61 

Germans, 25, 27, 32, 39, 40, 42, 
44, 109 


212 


INDEX 


Germantown, 32, 34, 111, 179 
Germany, 19, 20, 25, 118, 120 
Gilbert, Manor of, 44 
Goshenhoppen, 40, 108, 180, 184 
Graeme Park, 191, 193 
Grant, U. S., 118 
Greece 121 

Greenlane, 42, 57, 130, 134, 142, 
144, 148, 183-185 
Groff, Joseph, 42 
Gulph, 170 

Gwynedd, 32, 35, 36, 38, 105, 
130-132, 135, 136, 140, 142- 
149, 185, 191 


H 

Hancock, 168, 169, 191 
Harleysville, 174, 178, 179 
Harrisburg, 22, 23 
Harrison, 173 
Harry, 187 

Hartranft, 118, 119, 168, 181- 
183 

Hatboro, 76, 77, 83, 130, 135, 
142, 144, 148, 193, 194, 195 
Hatfield, 32, 36, 43, 45, 130, 
135, 142, 144, 146-148, 185, 
186, 192 

Haverford, 83, 173 
Heebner, 44, 181 
Henry, 11 
Hessians, 26, 27 
Heydrick, 118, 189 
Hickorytown, 186 
Hiester, 111, 183 
Hikes, History, 167-195 
Hillegass, 183 
Hindustan, 120 
History, Why Study, 16 
Hite, Hans Joost, 117, 181 
Hitner, 187 
Hoffecker, 85, 88, 89 
Holland, 19, 20 

Homelife, 14, 15, 49, 63-66, 92- 
96 

Hoppenville, 42, 183 
Horsham, 32, 34, 36, 40, 77, 103, 
130, 135, 142, 144, 146-148, 
190-192 
Hosensack, 77 
Hovenden, 187 


Howe, 182, 185, 188 
Huber, 99 
Hughes, 172 
Huntingdon Valley, 195 
Hutchinson, 102 


I 

Idaho, 118 
Illinois, 118 

Illuminative Writing, 100 
Immigrants, 25, 106, 118, 123 
Improvements, 92, 95 
India, 118, 120 

Indians, 12-14, 21-24, 31, 35, 41, 
44, 45, 57, 107-109, 118, 123, 
185, 190 

Industries, 37, 38, 42, 45, 48, 
53, 76, 78-81, 86, 87, 91, 122- 
126, 167, 169, 172, 173, 177, 178, 
181-183, 187, 195 
Inns, 57-59, 77, 167, 168, 172, 
174, 182, 185, 189, 195 
Inventions, 93 
Iowa, 118 
Iredell, 192 

Ireland, 19, 25, 109, 121 


j 

Jamaica, 120 
Janson, 40 
Japan, 118, 121 
Jarrettown, 192 
Jasper, 18 

Jeffersonville, 174, 177 
Jenkins, 191, 194 
Jenkintown, 77, 130, 135, 142, 
144, 148, 193, 194 
Jones, 37, 194 


K 

Kansas, 118 
Keith, 57, 192, 193 
Kentucky,117 
Keystone State, 12, 13, 19 
King-of-Prussia, 

Knox, 182 
Ivraussdale, 184 
Kulpsville, 121, 185 


INDEX 


213 


L 

Lacey, 195 

Lafayette, 111, 188, 189 
Lancaster, 74, 109 
La Mott, 193 
Landis, 88-90 
Landmarks, 35, 42 
Lane, 35, 36 
Language, 32 

Lansdale, 130, 135, 142, 144, 
148, 185 
Laws, 119 
Lay, 33 
Layfield, 180 
Lederachville, 179 
Leech, 193 
Legaux, 188 

Lehigh County, 42, 108, 191 
Leidy, 118 
Libertyville, 173 
Libraries, 77, 168, 182, 184, 194, 
195 

Life, The Transformed, 11 
Limekilns, 36 

Limerick, 34, 36, 40, 41, 45, 131, 
135, 142, 144, 146-148, 176, 
177 

Lincoln’s Inn, 18 
Line Lexington, 136 
Loch, 167 
Logan, 49 
Loller, 111, 195 
Lottery, 61, 81 
Lucon, 180, 181 

Lutheran, 25, 40, 43, 47, 173 
182, 183, 185, 186, 192 

M 

Macungie, 42, 183 
Maine, 120 

Manatawny, 37, 38, 107, 177 
Manayunk, 21, 173 
Maple Glen, 191, 192 
Marble Hall, 187 
Markham, 21 
Markley, 167 

Marlborough, 41-48, 108, 130, 
131, 136, 142, 144, 146-148. 
Maryland, 19, 25, 62, 68, 78, 81, 
118, 120 

Massachusetts, 120, 121 


Matson, 187, 189 
Maxatawny, 179 
Maybury, 42, 183 
McCall, 37, 42, 44, 182 
Medary, 118, 191 
Menan, 98, 187 

Mennonite, 25, 47, 178, 181, 
185, 186 
Mercer, 100 

Merions, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 
42, 46, 47, 77, 78, 80, 131, 132, 
136, 140, 142-149, 168, 169- 
173, 185 

Methacton, 40, 178 
Methodists, 47 
Mexico, 118 
Michigan, 118 
Miles, 111 
Milestown, 195 
Militia, 102, 111, 187 
Miller, 184 

Mills, 37, 40, 42, 43, 46, 181, 
188, 194 
Missouri, 168 
Mittelberger, 27 
Money, 91 
Mont Clare, 177, 178 
Montgomery County, 11-14, 16, 
21, 24, 29, 31, 32, 39, 45, 48, 
73, 107, 117, 123, 168 
Montgomery Township, 32, 34, 
36, 39, 77, 131, 137, 142, 144, 
146-149, 191 

Monument, Washington, 187 
Moorestown, 194 
Morals, 45 
Moravians, 181, 185 
Moreland, 32, 34, 77, 103, 116, 
130-132, 136, 140, 142-148, 

195 

Morris, 190 
Mott, Lucretia, 193 
Mount Joy, Manor of, 36 
Muhlenberg, 43, 111, 112, 118, 
176. 

N 

Narberth, 131, 137, 142, 144, 
148 

Nash, 121, 185 
Nazareth, 46 


214 


INDEX 


Neshaminy, 24 
Netherlands, 25 

New Hanover, 36, 37, 40, 41, 43, 
44, 46, 47, 131, 137, 143, 144, 
146-148 

New Hope, 78 

Newspapers, 77, 81, 86, 167, 179 
New York, 81, 117, 120, 193 
Norris, 36, 41 

Norristown, 46, 75, 76-81, 83, 
107, 124, 131, 137, 143, 144, 
148, 167, 168, 174, 186 
Norriton, 34, 36, 40, 46, 47, 77, 
103, 108, 111, 130, 131, 132, 
134, 137, 141-148, 178, 179 
Northampton, 117 
North Carolina, 81 
North Wales, 131, 137, 143, 144, 
148, 179, 180, 185 
Nova Scotia, 118 
Norway, 121, 

o 

Oaks, 174, 177, 178 
Obelisk, 180 
Oberly, 183 
Ogontz, 193, 194 
Ohio, 117, 118 

Old Style and New Style, 29 
Oxford, 18 

P 

Palm, 183, 184 
Palmer, 192 
Paoli, 173 
Pastorius, 37, 38 
Patents, Land, 30, 31, 34-36, 38, 
40, 41, 43, 45, 47 
Pawlings, 75, 178 
Penllyn, 191 

Penn, William, 12, 13, 17-25, 29, 
31, 34, 38, 40, 75, 81, 172, 178, 
187 

Penn, 18, 19, 36, 37, 43, 182 
Pennsburg, 131, 138, 143, 144, 
148, 183, 184 
Penna.-German, 32 
Penna. Land Co., 35, 36 
Pennsylvanians, 47 
Penn Yan, 47, 117, 182 


Pennypack, 21, 24, 37 
Pennypacker, 111, 118, 181 
Perkiomen, 24, 32, 34, 37-39, 86, 
131, 138, 143, 144, 146-148, 
175, 177, 178 

Perkiomen Bridge, 74, 174, 176, 
Perkiomen-Skippack, 40, 143 
Persecution, 25, 26 

p erS i a 1.20 

Philadelphia, 13, 21, 27, 32, 34, 
36, 37, 39, 42, 46, 61, 62, 73, 
74, 78, 81, 106, 109, 111, 
120, 123, 173, 191-193 
Phoenixville, 45, 111, 174, 178 
Pike, 123 

Pioneers, 25, 35, 49 
Plymouth, 32, 34, 36, 39, 84, 103, 
130, 131, 138, 143, 144, 146- 
148, 186, 187 
Pool Forge, 107 
Poor, 188 

Population, 123, 142 
Porter, 111, 118, 169 
Port Kennedy, 45, 79, 174, 177 
Port Providence, 178 
Portugal, 120 

Postoffices, 65, 77, 78, 90, 100, 

185 

Potts, 38, 177 

Pottsgrove, 132, 136, 138, 140, 
141-149 

Pottstown, 38, 74, 77, 81, 83, 
104, 108, 124, 131, 138, 143, 
144, 148, 176, 177 
Presbyterian, 25, 174, 178, 194 
Princeton, 194 
Prison, 74, 77, 85, 168 
Providences, 32, 34-36, 38-41, 
43, 45, 46, 84, 88, 90, 105, 111, 
130-132, 136, 140, 142-149, 

175 

Puff’s Corner, 191 

Q 

Quit-rent, 30, 188 

R 

Railroads, 79, 80, 86, 103, 104, 
167, 168, 173, 178, 183, 185 
Railroad, Underground, 86 


INDEX 


215 


Ralston, 167 
Rambo, 88, 89 
Rawle, 36 

Reading, 61, 78, 80, 177 
Redemptioners, 26, 184 
Red Hill, 131, 138, 143, 144, 148, 
183, 184 
Reed, 111 
Reesville, 169 

Reformed, 25, 40, 43, 182-186 
Reichelderfer, 108 
Rplff 179 

Religious Life, 67-72 
Reynolds, 118 
Rhode Island, 81 
Rittenhouse, 47, 111, 178 
Roads, 29, 31, 34-38, 40-46, 57- 
59, 78, 146, 147, 167-191 
Roberts, 169, 172, 173 
Rockledge, 131, 138, 143, 144, 
148 

Royersford, 86, 131, 138, 143- 
145, 148 
Russia, 121 
Rutter, 38 


s 

Cf riair 177 

Salfords,’ 34, 36, 38, 40, 41, 43, 
45, 47, 48, 130-132, 136, 139, 
140, 142-149, 178-180 
Sanatoga, 111, 177 
Sandy Hill, 167 
Sauer, 44, 178 
Schall, 183 
Schantz, 63 
Scheifele, 183 
Schlatter, 43 

Schoolhouses, 35, 39, 40, 42-44, 
47 

Schuylkill, 21, 24, 31, 35, 37, 
42, 46, 61, 75, 111, 169, 172, 
175,178 

Schwenkfelder, 25, 42, 47, 185 
Schwenksville, 37, 131, 139, 143, 
145, 149, 180, 181 
Scotch-Irish, 25, 35 
Scotland, 25 
Sculls, 190 

Settling the County, 29 
Shannon, 74 


Shannonville, 76, 177 
Shenandoah, 117 
Shoemakertown, 193 
Shuler, 42 
Shultz, 62, 184 
Silesians, 25 

Skippack, 32, 39, 40, 108, 131, 
138, 139, 143, 145-147, 149, 
174, 175, 179, 180, 182 
Slaves, 26, 27, 57, 86, 183 
Slemmer, 168 
Smyth, 170 

Society, Montg. Co. Historical, 
168,' 177 

Souderton, 131, 139, 143, 145, 
149, 185, 186 
South America, 120, 121 
Spain, 25, 120 
Spangenberg, 185 
Spice Islands, 120 
Springett, 19, 34 
Springfield, 32, 34, 35, 38, 41, 
43, 103, 131, 139, 143, 145, 
147, 149, 189 

Springhouse, 74, 102, 179, 189, 
191 

Spring Mill, 188, 189 

Spring Mount, 181 

Sprogell, 37, 177 

Squatters, 31, 49 

Stages, 46, 58, 60, 168, 180, 195 

Statistics, 123-149 

Steel, 40 

Stetler, 180, 181 

Stewart, 169 

Stony Creek, 46 

Stowe, 176, 177 

Stuart, 111 

Sullivan, 177 

Sumney, 183 

Sumneytown, 41, 42, 48, 77, 81, 
83, 139,179, 183 
Sunderland, 176 
Supplee, 169, 182 
Surveys, 30, 62 
Susquehanna, 75, 79 
Swamp, 48, 77, 139, 177, ISO- 
182 

Swank, 21 
Swedeland, 169 
Swedes, 24, 25, 32, 38, 120 
Swedes Ford, 42, 47, 111 


216 


INDEX 


T 

Tacony, 193 
Tennent, 194 
Tennessee, 117 
Thompson, 111 
Thomson, 173, 174 
Three Tuns, 191 
Title, Conveying the, 29 
Towamencin, 32, 34, 36, 40, 41, 
43, 111, 131, 139, 143, 145-147, 
149, 185 

Townships Organized, 34 
Traders, Free Society of, 20 
Transit of Venus, 47 
Trappe, 74, 77, 111, 131, 139, 
143, 145, 149, 176 
Travel, Modes of, 103 
Trent, 36 
Trenton, 37 
Trojans, 16 
Trooper, 174, 177-179 
Turkey, 120 

Turnpikes, 34, 74, 78, 85, 90 

u 

United States, 12, 13 
Upland, 21 

Upper Dublin, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 
41, 103, 116, 130, 132,140, 143, 
145-147, 149, 191 
Upper Hanover, 40-43, 45, 47, 
48, 77, 103, 108, 130-132, 140, 
143, 145-147, 149 

V 

Valley Forge, 42, 48, 110, 111, 
169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 190 
Van Bebber, 36, 39, 131, 179 
Virginia, 25, 68, 74, 81, 109, 
117 

W 

Wack, 182 

Wagner, 182 

Wales, 20, 25 

Wanamaker, 194 

Warrants, 30, 34, 35, 40, 41, 45 

Warren, 14 

Wars, 41, 44, 48, 85, 86, 102,108- 
112, 167-173, 175, 177-183, 
185-188, 190, 193, 195 


Washington, George, 110, 111, 
170-172, 178, 181, 182, 184, 
190 

Watson, 92, 96 
Wayne, 119 
Webster, 16 
Weiser, 108 
Weiss, 57 
Welcome, Ship, 21 
Welsh, 25, 32, 34, 35-37, 185, 186 
Wentz, 178, 179, 182 
West Chester, 167 
West Indies, 120 
West Telford, 132, 141, 143, 145, 
149, 185, 186 
Wheelpump, 189 
Whitefield, 43, 185, 190 
Whitemarsh, 32, 34-39, 46, 77, 
103, 105, 111, 130, 132, 141, 
143, 145-147, 149, 188-191 
Whitpain, 32, 34, 36, 38, 41, 77, 
130, 132, 141, 143, 145-147, 
149, 182 
Wiegner, 185 
Wilkes-Barre, 46 
Wilkinson, 47, 182 
Williamstadt, 34, 36 
Willow Grove, 74, 77, 192, 193, 
195 

Wilson, 38, 167 
Wisconsin, 120 

Wissahickon, 37, 185, 190, 191 
Wolf, 68 
Wood, 187 

Worcester, 34, 36 38, 40, 41, 43, 
108, 111, 117, 132, 141, 143, 
145-147, 149, 178 
Woxall, 180 


Y 

Yankees, 47 
Yerkes, 175 
York, 61 
Yost, 182 


Z 

Zendler, 44 
Zieglerville, 180, 181 
Zinzendorf, 185 



























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TABLE OF D18TANOES 

Montgomery County 

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MONTGOMERY 

PENNSYLVANIA 

Part of a Brief History 
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Montgomery County, Penna. 


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